How to Save a Life
by lexi-charmed
Summary: A Supernatural/BtVS crossover. Dean has sold his soul and its up to Sam and Buffy to save him, but The Winchester's hunt is connected to Buffy's new apocalypse. Full summery and timeline inside.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello!**

**Here's a new story idea that I'm trying out. Most of you who have read my stories before will know that I usually do Charmed stories, well this time I'm doing a Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover.**

**Summary below.**

How to Save a Life

**This is a **_**Supernatural**_** and **_**Buffy the Vampire Slayer **_**crossover, set at the end of Season 2 of Supernatural and during Season 7 of BtVS.**

**What happened in the 7****th**** Season of BtVS hasn't happened, the First hasn't come along (however something has been killing the Potentials and they are grouping together at Buffy's house) and I am ignoring everything that happened in Season 3 of Supernatural, also a few pointers from the Season 2 finale (you'll find out as you read). So this whole universe is completely AU. I'm only writing it for fun so please do not message me with "Well that didn't happen" or "That makes no sense from how the show is". Everything that needs to be explained will be explained during the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own either show nor am I affiliated with them in either way. The idea just came to me so I am running with it.**

Chapter 1: On a Previous Hunt

_All Dean could do was watch as Jake ran up behind Sam and stabbed him in the back – literally. The elder Winchester could not act fast enough, he had tried to call out to his brother, but it all happened so fast that even Sam could not do anything to stop it from happening._

_"Sam, look out!" Dean shouted just as Jake plunged the knife into the younger Winchester's back, "NO!"_

_Dean sprinted towards his brother, as he watched Sam fall to his knees. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Bobby run past him to go after Jake, just as he slid to his knees. He grabbed his brother's jacket, trying to shake him so that Sam would look at him in the eyes. His green eyes darted from one of his brother's eyes to the other, repeatedly, quickly. He needed some reaction from Sam, but at the moment he was not getting anything._

_"Sam!" Dean said, but his brother's body was feeling far too limp. The top of Sam's body fell into Dean, causing the elder Winchester to move his hands from Sam's jacket to his arms to try and keep him steady, "Sam." He tried again, this time a little quieter than before._

_When he still did not get a reaction, he pulled Sam's limp body towards him and now wrapped his arms around, placing his left hand on the wound that the knife had made. When he looked at his hand, he saw the red, sticky liquid on it that had come from Sam's back. This was bad, this was very bad, but he needed to keep his brother talking._

_Pushing his brother's body back up, Dean grabbed Sam's face with one hand to see Sam's eyes unable to focus._

_"Hey, it's not even that bad," he lied to his brother, anything to keep him awake, anything to keep his brother with him, "It's not even that bad, alright? Sammy," Dean could see he was losing his brother, he needed to do something else, "Sam, hey! Listen to me, we're gonna patch you up, ok? You'll be as good as new," Dean said, trying to sound happy, make it sound like it was possible, trying to keep his Sammy thinking positively, but his fear showed in his eyes as he realised that Sam's eyes were closing on him, "W're gonna take care of you, I got ya, it's my job," Dean laughed slightly, trying to keep the air light, "Watch out for my pain in the ass little brother," but then he saw Sam's green eyes shut completely, "Sam? Sam. Sam. Sammy!" that was when the elder Winchester realised that his brother was gone, that he was the only Winchester left standing, "No, no," Dean said softly as he pulled the body of his baby brother back to him and wrapped his arms around, wishing for anything to get his brother back, "No, no…" Dean knew he had tears in his eyes but right now he did not care. His brother was gone. Everything they had fought for, everything they had done to make sure that Sam did not turn evil and so that Dean did not have to kill him, was now for nothing. His Sammy was gone. "SAM!"_

--

Dean stood in the doorway of one of the deserted houses in the deserted village as he thought about what had happened earlier. His brother's cold body laid on the bed, his arms resting on his stomach, his eyes closed. He looked like he was in a peaceful sleep, the most peaceful sleep he had had in the past two years since Jessica had been killed by that demon that had killed their mother.

"Dean," a voice called out behind the Winchester, making Dean jump as he realised that Bobby had made it back. If he was honest he did not even realise that the older hunter had left him, he was too busy with his thoughts, his thoughts of Sam. He needed his brother back, he could not even think about revenge without his brother beside him, but what could he do? "I brought you this back."

Dean did not want to talk to anyone, he wanted to be left alone so needed to find a way to get rid of Bobby. When Bobby started to ask about burying Sam, that was the end of it for Dean.

"We could…maybe…"

"What?" Dean turned to face Bobby, anger evident in his green eyes, "Torch his corpse? Not yet." As the conversation continued in a similar manner, the problem of Jake still being out there and now working with the Yellow Eyed Demon, who had killed both Mary Winchester and Jessica, came up.

"Something big is going down," Bobby said to the Winchester, "End-of-the-world big."

"Well, then let it end!" Dean screamed at the hunter, without his Sammy, he did not care about the end of the world. He did not care if he died.

"You don't mean that."

"You don't think so, huh?" Dean questioned, what did Bobby really know? "You don't think I've given enough? You don't think I've paid enough? I'm done with it. All of it!" Dean explained to the man who was like a father to him, the man that had helped him so much since the death of John last year, "And if you know what's good for you, turn around and get the hell out of here. Go!" Dean grabbed Bobby Singer on the shoulder, seeing the tears that were now forming in his eyes, but Dean could not go on without his baby brother, Sammy was his weakness, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Please, just go."

All Bobby could do in reply was leave the young Winchester alone to get through his grief.

"You know where I'll be." Bobby sighed before turning his back on Dean and leaving the house and the deserted town.

Now that Dean was alone, he had time to think. Looking at his brother's body, he allowed his tears to fall down his cheek as he figured out the best form of action.

"You know, when we were little," Dean started talking to the cold borther o fhis brother, "You couldn't have been more than 5 – you just started asking questions. How come were didn't have a mom? Why do we always have to move around? Where'd Dad go when he'd take off for days at a time? I remember I begged you – 'Quit asking, Sammy. Man, you don't want to know,'" the blonde haired Winchester chuckled slightly as he thought about the memory, "I just wanted you to be a kid…Just a little while longer. I always tried to protect you…keep you safe…Dad didn't even need to tell me. It was just always my responsibility, you know? It's like I had one job…I had one job…" as his voice broke, tears began to form in his eyes and fall down his cheeks, "And I screwed it up. I blew it. And for that, I'm sorry," he tried to blink the tears away, but the feel of them falling down his cheeks became uncomfortable and he wiped them away, "I guess that's what I do. I let down the people I love. I let Dad down and now I guess I'm just supposed to let you down too. How can I? How am I supposed to live with that?" crying, Dean continued in talking to his dead baby brother, "What am I supposed to do, Sammy? God. What am I supposed to do?" he took one deep breath as he called out at the top of his lungs, "WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!"

That was when he realised what he could do, the way that he could bring his brother back to him. A way for them to fight together. He would do something that he hated his father for doing, but Sam would never find out about it, he would make sure of it.

Dean climbed into his car and drove recklessly down the dirt road that he and Bobby had driven in on when they were looking for Sam. Stopping the car sharply, causing it to skid, he climbed out and threw a load of items into a box that was in the truck of the car and then buried the box in the middle of the crossroads where he had stopped, and waited for the demon to show.

"Oh come on already. Show your face, you bitch!" Dean shouted out to the empty road and then eyed the Red-Eyed Demon that appeared in the body of a dark brown haired woman in a slinky black dress.

At first she was not going to make the deal with him, there was no way she was going to let Sam live and give Dean ten years to live, something told me that demons wanted Sam Winchester dead enough to shorten Dean's contract down. The less time of both Winchesters hunting together, the better it was for demons.

"Nine," Dean tried, but the answer was no, "Eight," still no, "Okay, five years. Five years and my bill comes due. That's my last offer…five years or no deal." Of course, she was not here because she wanted a deal, Dean had called her, so she still refused his offer.

"Make sure you bury Sam before he starts stinking up the joint," the woman smirked, walking away from the Winchester, "It's a fire sale and everything must do."

"What do I have to do?"

"First of all, quit grovelling," the woman informed the blonde, turning to face him again, "Needy guys are such a turn off. I could get in a lot of trouble for this," she finally decided to make a deal with the 28-year-old, she knew that she would get into a lot of trouble since Sam Winchester was the most dangerous of the two brothers, the one with the powers, but after she met Dean the first time she had come to like him, "I've got a blind spot for you, Dean. You're like a…puppy," Dean could not help but think of Sam then. Sam was always the one with the puppy dog eyes that helped him get everything he wanted, "You're just too fun to play with. I'll do it."

"You'll bring him back?"

"I will," she nodded her ehad, "And I'll give you one year and one year only. If you try and Welch or weasel your way out, then the deal is off. Sam drops dead. He's back to rotten meat in no time. It's better than your dad ever got. What do you say?"

Dean did not even have to think about it, he would have one year with his brother and Sammy would not have to find out the truth. Dean could easily get away from Sam when his time was up. Closing the deal, Dean pulled the woman, which held the demon inside, and kissed her hard, letting her know that he accepted it.

Once it was over, he jumped back into the car and drove back to the deserted town where his Sammy was. The minute he stepped into the house that he had laid his brother's body in, he held his breath, wondering whether the demon had kept her word.

Opening the door to the bedroom, Dean saw a sight for sore eyes in the form of his brother, standing in front of a mirror, examining the scar on his back.

"Sammy!"

--

Now that Dean and Sam were back together again, they made their way back to Bobby. Of course, Sam had no idea what had really happened, Dean had just told him that Bobby had patched him up. Because of that, Sam had completely missed the look of shock in Bobby's eyes when he opened to door to see the two Winchesters stood there.

"Hey, Bobby." Dean put on his game face, knowing that Bobby knew straight away what the eldest Winchester had done.

"Hey Bobby." Sam now said, a grateful smile, since he really did believe that this man had saved his life.

"Sam," Bobby stated, glancing at Dean as thoughts ran through his mind, "It's good to see…you up and around."

"Yeah, well…thanks for patching me up."

"Don't mention it." Bobby said, once again looking at Dean with a look that told him he knew what he and done and he did not approve.

"Well Sam's better," Dean smiled, once again with his game face trying to ignore the glare that he was receiving from his hunter friend, "And we're back in it now, so…what do you have?"

The two brothers found out that Bobby may have found out where Jake could be with the Yellow-Eyed Demon, with Ellen's help, and they went to Wyoming to find them and stop them before they caused the End of the World. One thing they did not need right now was another apocalypse.

The Yellow-Eyed Demon was not there when they made it, but Jake was and he was about to open the Gates of Hell. The two Winchesters had had to deal with stopping the gates to all the different hell dimensions opening before, but they never realised that there was one set of gates. That was when Dean first met Buffy, a young Vampire Slayer that was extremely good looking and an amazing fighter. She was a great ally to have on side and they had helped each other out more than once with different demons.

The four hunters that had made it to Wyoming soon realised that Jake had the colt in his hand, a gun that could kill all demons rather than just send them back to hell, but had special bullets that could only be used in that gun. What they did not understand now, was, why did Jake need the gun? The demon had taken it for a reason but what was that reason and why did he give it to Jake?

"Howdy, Jake." Sam simply said as he and the four other hunters appeared from the shadows behind the African-American soldier, their guns raised, aiming straight at him.

"Wait…" Jake said, staring at the man he knew he had killed, "You were dead, I killed you."

"Yeah?" Sam smirked, "Well next time, finish the job."

"I did!" Jake exclaimed, looking back at the other hunters before continuing on at the younger Winchester, "I cut clean through your spinal cord, man," the soldier noticed Sam's glance to Dean and glanced himself, he had to have had something to do with it, "You can't be alive. You can't be."

Not wanting anything to go on, knowing that Sam did not know the truth about what had happened and Dean did not want him to find out, he told Jake to calm down. He needed to know why Jake had the colt in his hand and why he was at the Gates of Hell.

"Hey Lady," Jake looked towards Ellen, "Do me a favour, put that gun to your head," when Ellen placed her own gun to her temple, fear appeared in the hunter's eyes. They had seen this power before, a young boy named Andy, but Sam knew that that was not Jake's power. Jake had supernatural strength, "See that Ava girl was right. Once you give into it, there's all sorts of new Jedi mind tricks you can learn."

"Let her go." Sam warned the man.

"Shoot him." Ellen pleaded, afraid that she would shoot herself at Jake's order.

"You'll be mopping up skull before you can get a shot off," Jake warned the hunters, "Now everybody put your guns down, except for you, sweetheart," once three guns dropped to the floor, he smiled, "Ok. Thank you."

Jake turned his back to the hunters and began to place the colt into the lock that would open the Gate of Hell until he heard a loud bang and felt pain shoot up his back. He could barely turn around from the pain, to see Sam with a gun in his hand.

Sam had pulled a gun from the back of his jeans, one that he had ready, just in case, and shot the solider three more times. He watched the colt drop from Jake's hand and then Jake drop to his knees. The younger Winchester positioned himself in front of Jake and aimed the gun at him again.

"Please…don't," Jake gasped, looking into Sam's green eyes, "Please."

Sam ignored the pleas and pulled the trigger on the gun three more times, the bullets making their home in Jake's chest.

Now that Jake was dead, Ellen could move the gun from her head and the four hunters realised that they had just stopped the Gates of Hell from opening. They still had to get the Yellow-Eyed Demon, but for now their work was done.

"You know," Sam said as they made their way back to the Impala, "When Jake saw me…it was like he saw a ghost," Sam scoffed as he thought of the situation, wanting the truth from his brother, "I mean, you heard him, Dean. He said he killed me."

"I'm glad he was wrong."

"I don't think he was, Dean," Sam shook his head, glaring at Dean as soon as they were at the car, leaning on it, "What happened…after I was stabbed?"

"I already told you."

"Not everything."

Dean looked everywhere except for at his brother, he did not want him to find out and he would not have done if Jake had not shot his mouth off.

"Did I die, Dean?"

"Oh, come on."

"Did you sell your soul for me, like Dad did for you?"

"Oh, come on!" Dean shouted, trying to keep his game face but he knew that Sam could see through it, "No!"

"Tell me the truth," when he heard Dean sniffle slightly, Sam knew he was onto something, "Dean, tell me the truth."

"Sam." Dean sigh with a chuckle, causing Sam to nod his head when he realised that it was the truth.

"How long do you get?" Sam asked, his voice breaking slightly. When his dad sold his soul for Dean's life, he was killed on the spot, how short was Dean's deal going to be?

"One year," Dean sighed, "I got one year"

"You shouldn't have done that," Sam sighed, resting on the hood of the Impala, "How could you do that?"

"Don't get mad at me. Don't you do that, I had to," Dean glared at Sam. Angry green eyes meeting angry green eyes, "I had to look out for you. That's my job."

"And what do you think my job is?"

"What?"

"You've save my life over and over," Sam explained to his older brother, "I mean, you sacrifice everything for me. Don't you think I'd do the same for you? You're my big brother. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you and I don't care what it takes, I'm gonna get you out of this," Sam sighed as he thought of something that he thought he would never say, "Guess I gotta save your ass for a change."

Dean chuckled slightly as he heard his brother and then sighed, he nodded his head but deep down the thought of what the demon had told him was still there. If he weaselled out of the deal then Sam would drop dead and it would have been for nothing.

"There's someone I need to see before you start saving me though," Dean said, now looking at Sam softly, knowing that he would understand exactly who he was talking about, "I owe it to her, Sammy."

"I know," Sam nodded her head, "We'll go straight there now, if you want."

--

Meanwhile, in Sunnydale, California, Buffy Summers waited for the return of the two hunter brothers, more importantly, Dean Winchester. They had left a few weeks ago in search for the demon that had killed their mother, when they found out where he could be, but Dean had promised to call when it was over. Of course, she wondered whether he would really call and how reliable he was. She had known him for a few years now, after one of their hunts was connected to one of her apocalypses. They had saved her little sister from the God, Glorificus, before it was too late and all the hell dimensions were opened. Buffy had to admit that she had liked the older Winchester the minute she laid eyes on him, but she had also just gotten out of her relationship with Riley so it was not the right time for her.

After a few months, their paths crossed again and soon they were finding they could help each other. Buffy had her Slayer strength and the help of a 1000-year-old ex-demon and a powerful witch (who did cause some problems some time later) while Dean and Sam had their connections to finding out the demons and their knack of saving people.

While helping each other, Dean and Buffy became close friends, although neither would let their feelings get too deep.

However, right now, they both had their own supernatural problems that did not seem to be connected in anyway. While Dean and Sam had their mother's killer to hunt down and finally kill after 24 years, Buffy had a bunch of teenage girls living in her house, while they figured out who was trying to kill them. In every generation there may have been one Slayer, but there were tons of potentials, girls ready to be called when the Slayer was killed.

"Buffy?" a voice called out to the 23-year-old Slayer, causing her to turn around from where she stood in the Kitchen, getting herself a drink before she went back to seeing how the girls were doing with training with Kennedy, one of the other potentials. When she realised that it was her Wiccan friend, Willow, she put down the bottle of pop in her hand and sighed.

"Have you got anything?"

"We're not too sure, but there's another potential," the red-head witch explained, "Xander wants to know if you want to go, in case there's anymore of the Harbringers."

"Let's go." Buffy nodded her head, making her way past her friend and out of the kitchen, all thoughts of Dean out of her head now.

**So there's the first chapter. Let me know what you think so far. The supernatural bit was just pretty much the Season 2 finale, but with a few important bits missed out. Anyway, I'll have the next chapter up very very soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to the people who reviewed the previous chapter. Here's the next one for your enjoyment.**

How to Save a Life

Chapter 2: Telling Buffy

Dean pulled up in the impala outside the bright two-storey house, he had left Sam at the motel, wanting to speak to the woman alone. As he parked outside, he waited for a moment, wondering what he was going to tell her. He had a speech ready, but he knew he would stumble across it when it came to it unless he made sure he was completely calm. How did you stay calm when you had to tell a woman that you really liked, possibly loved, that you only had a year to live because you had sold your soul to save your brother? Like that maybe, but a little softer. First of all, he had to actually see her.

Making the way over to the door, he pressed the doorbell, expecting either the woman or her teenage sister to answer the door, instead he came face to face with a woman that he did not even realise was back, let alone living at the house.

"Dean!"

"Willow." Dean sighed, facing the Witch, the woman that had tried to kill him a year after they had met. He had always had bad experiences with Witches but this one was the worst. Of course, he understood the reason behind her vengeance against the three men she was actually after. They had killed her girlfriend, the woman that she loved, and would stop at nothing. She had absorbed evil powers, which took away her humanity, so would kill anybody that got in her way – one of those being Dean, himself. However, even though he understood the reasoning did not mean that he actually liked the woman. He was weary of her when he found out that she was a witch, now he could not trust her.

"Buffy, is she in?"

"She's just gone out with Xander," Willow explained to the Winchester that stood in front of her, biting her bottom lip as she remembered what she had done when she was evil, "Do you want to come in and wait for her? She won't be long."

Reluctantly, Dean nodded his head. He did not want to be left alone in the house with the red-haired woman, but he needed to see Buffy, he needed to speak to the Slayer. Stepping into the house, he looked around it, frowning slightly, realising it looked like a bomb had gone off. There were blankets all over the place, food packets and drink cartons everywhere.

"Dawn's gotten a little messy while I've been away." Dean commented.

"It isn't all me, thank you." Dawn's voice came from the doorway to the kitchen, causing the Winchester to turn around to see the youngest Summers, her long brown hair tied up in a ponytail.

"Hey, Dawny," he smiled, knowing that the nickname annoyed her, but somehow he always got away with calling her that, "Don't I get a hug?"

"Do you not know how to call?" Dawn asked with a smirk as she made her way over to who she wished would be her sister's boyfriend. This was one man that she could stand, some of that had to do with him saving her life, but it was also because he treated her like an adult and taught her what he knew in hunting a demon without Slayer strength, even if Buffy did not like the idea, "What are you doing back, by the way?" Dawn now asked, after she had hugged him and looked into his big green eyes.

"I need to see your sister," Dean explained, "Just waiting for her now. So, who's mess is it? Xander's?"

"Not quite," Dawn shook her head, biting her bottom lip, "We have a few house guests." Before she explained, she pulled the Winchester towards the backyard, where she knew the potential Slayers were all training. She wanted to join in with them, but had been told that she was 'Book Girl'. Most of the time she hated that but Dean had once told her that it was the most important part was the research, that was why he always needed his little brother.

"What the hell is going on?" Dean asked as he saw the group of teenage looking girls out in the back garden in a military formation, with one girl, slightly older than the rest and extremely hot, in front of them. They looked to be practising martial arts, but Dean could see some of them were very new to it.

"They're potential Slayers," now it was a male's voice, an older and British voice too so Dean knew exactly who it would be. Turning around he smiled to see Rupert Giles stood in the kitchen, cleaning his glasses, "Someone, or something, has been killing them so they're all joining together here so Buffy can protect them."

"Why Buffy?" Dean asked, frowning as they all made their way outside.

"She's the only one with the strength," Giles explained, "And they have nowhere else to go."

Dean simply nodded his head and looked back over to the group of girls, as the girl in front shouted at one of them for turning the wrong way. As she made the girl do push-ups, she turned around to Dean and the other three, making her way over to them and looking directly at Willow, causing Dean to wonder if they were now dating. Was this girl a lesbian? She was too hot for that.

"Did you see that? I just called that girl maggot," the girl looked at Dean, wearily, "Who are you?"

"This is Dean Winchester," Willow explained to the brunette girl before turning to Dean, "This is Kennedy."

"Girlfriend by any chance?" Dean asked, noting the blush that appeared in the witch's face.

"Dean Winchester?" Kennedy questioned, folding her arms, "As in the rifle?"

"Exactly like the rifle," another voice called out from the door, causing Dean to turn around with a smile on his face, "But rifles and guns are never useful."

"Sometimes they are," Dean smirked, "Depends what you're killing."

Smirking at the blonde haired woman that had just come into the conversation, he watched as a smile reached to her blue eyes. He missed that smile, he could have really done with seeing that when he had lost his brother just last week. Maybe seeing that smile would have made him find another way to save the day and bring Sam back, without the need of him selling his soul, or at least think of other options.

"It's so good to see you," Buffy made her way over to the hunter, hugging him tightly, "Did you get the demon?"

"No," Dean admitted, returning the hug, "We had a few problems, one being having to stop the Gates of Hell from being opened. I need to talk to you, actually, alone."

"What happened?" Buffy asked and then realised that his brother was not with him, "Dean, has something happened to Sam?"

"Buffy, can we go inside to talk?" Dean pleaded with her, with his eyes, "I can't tell you in front of everyone."

"Dean, if something happened…"

Dean sighed, what was he meant to do? She was not listening to him, he could not tell her around everyone. Sighing, he walked past her and back into the house, knowing that everybody was watching them but he did not care, right now.

"Dean!" Buffy called out as they made their way into the house, closely followed by Xander, Willow, Dawn, Giles and Kennedy, "Dean, what is going on? What happened?"

Once they were inside, Dean turned to face Buffy to realise that everybody had followed her in. There was no way he was going to be able to talk to her alone, they would all want to know the problem and they would find out eventually. The Winchester sighed as he readied himself to say everything he had thought of earlier.

"Sam was killed when we were hunting," Dean explained softly and saw the shock in the woman's eyes. She reached out to take his hand but he needed to tell her everything, "But it's ok, I got him back. He's alive again, but it was at a price."

"Dean, what did you do?" She asked him, worried since she knew the two brothers would do anything for each other. They would sacrifice themselves, just like Buffy was prepared to do for Dawn until Dean and Sam saved her.

"I sold my soul," Dean confessed with a sigh, looking at the group of people in the room before focusing fully on Buffy, seeing the tears form in her blue eyes, "I had to Buffy, I needed my brother back. I couldn't face the demon on my own."

"You didn't kill the demon though!" Buffy shouted at Dean, "How long do you have?" She knew that selling his soul meant he would go to Hell, but she would find a way to save him from his fate, after all it was all to save his brother.

"One year," Dean explained with a sigh, understanding why she was so angry, it had not been that long since her mother had died and then just a bit after that Willow's girlfriend, who was one of Buffy's close friends, was killed, "I've got one year but I've got to die, otherwise Sam dies and I'll get the demon before I die."

"I can't…" Buffy shook her head, as she heard what the Winchester had to say, "You can't leave me, Dean. I can't just let you go to Hell."

"I'm sorry," Dean apologised, "But I had no other choice."

"We could have found a way," the blonde woman now cried as her voice broke and the tears formed in her eyes, "Willow could have done something. You didn't have to sell your soul, Dean. Do you hate me that much?"

"I wasn't thinking too much at the time," Dean tried to reason with her, "I'm sorry, Buffy, and it wasn't because of you. I just needed my brother."

"You shouldn't mess with the dead, Dean," Giles' voice now spoke up, since Buffy could not say anything. He could see that the Slayer was lost for words, "How do you know what you brought back was really Sam?"

"I just know, ok?" Dean shouted at the Watcher, "He's my brother, I'd know if it wasn't him," now he turned to the blonde haired Slayer, sadness in his eyes, "Buffy, I'm sorry. I needed to tell you."

"I know," Buffy said quietly, nodding her head but she could not look at the man in the eyes. She almost felt betrayed by him. He knew what she had been through, she had told him how everybody in her life seemed to leave, and now he was going to do it and he had done it willingly. He went in search for a demon to sell his soul to save his brother. She felt hurt and betrayed, "You know what? I can't deal with this anymore. I have potential Slayers to protect from a demon that I don't even know about…"

"I can help, me and Sam can help."

"No," Buffy shook her head, now finally looking at the Winchester, "Too many people have died already and I can't lose you before you have to die. I need to save Spike and find the demon."

All Dean could do was nod his head, there was nothing he could say to make Buffy see that she could use his help, she was far too stubborn.

"Well, me and Sam will find a hunt," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "Call me if you do need any help. I'm always on the other end of a phone."

Looking around the room, he said his goodbyes to them all, especially Dawn, who was now crying, herself, and then kissed Buffy on the cheek.

"I'll see you before my time's up."

With that, he left the house, wondering whether telling her the truth was the best thing to do.

Buffy stood there for a few minutes after Dean had left, slowly processing what he had told her. He was going to die in a year, not just die but his soul was going to Hell. She had to find a way to save him, but at the same time had to find a way to save the potential Slayers that were congregating at her house.

"Buffy…" Xander was the first to speak, trying to find out if she would be alright after hearing what she had just heard.

"We have work to do," Buffy informed them, turning to look at her friends, "Dawn, I need you to find out everything you can about crossroad deals…"

"Buffy…" Giles started but was cut off by the Slayer.

"Not now, Giles, that is how Dean sold his soul," she explained and then turned back to her youngest sister, "I know he'd have gone to the crossroads, he's come across them before. I need you to find out about them and find a way to save him," Dawn nodded her head in agreement with her sister, they did need to find a way to save the Winchester and she would stop at nothing to find it. Next, Buffy turned to Giles and Xander, "I need you both and Anya, wherever she is, to check for what could be after the potentials. Anything you find, tell me," once Giles and Xander nodded, the Slayer could turn to Kennedy, "Ken, I need you back outside with the girls. They need to be ready like yesterday…" Sighing, Kennedy took the order and made her way back outside of the house to the back garden.

"What about me, Buffy?" Willow asked.

"Get on the phone to the coven in England," she explained, "I need anything that could either help us or Dean. Whatever you find, tell me."

Once everybody was happy with what they had, Xander raised the next questioned.

"What about you?"

"I need to find Spike."

"Spike?" Xander scoffed, wondering whether he had heard his best friend right, "Dean comes to town and tells you he has a year left and you have to find Spike?"

"I need to find out what has killed the other potentials," Buffy explained to the brunette man, "And I think they've taken Spike. Once I find him, we may have our answer of who the demon is."

--

"What do you mean, we're leaving?" Sam questioned as he watched his brother packing his duffle. The minute Dean had gotten back to the motel from Buffy's house, he had been quiet, a little too quiet for Sam's liking. All he had said was 'Pack your crap, we're leaving' and then started packing his own things, not that much was out since as soon as they had got there, Dean went off to find Buffy. Sam had just been cleaning their weapons after their hunts that they had just had, ready for if Buffy needed their help. By the sounds of it, however, there was no help needed.

"We're just leaving, Sammy," Dean shouted at his brother, "Now bag your crap!"

"Dean!" Sam sighed, wondering how long his brother was going to keep this up, right now he needed his brother to open up to him, "Dean, just tell me. What happened?"

"She didn't take it so great, ok?" Dean threw his arms up in the air as he looked at his brother, "Not that I blame her for taking it hard, it's not something you hear everyday."

"Dean, what exactly did she say?"

"That she has a big fight coming up and she can't lose me before she has to," Dean finally sighed, "Look, just get everything together, we're going in search for a hunt."

"She has a big fight and you're just walking away?" Sam frowned, looking at his brother. Dean had to be hiding something, he would not just walk away from a potential hunt, "You love her, I know you do, and you're just letting her fight on her own? She could die, Dean…"

"And you did!" Dean shouted, "You did and I had to be there to witness it. I can't do it with her, not when I won't be able to save her. We're going."

And Sam realised just then that that was why Dean was walking away. He was scared of losing someone else close to him. They had lost too much in their lives, witnessed too much, maybe this was something that Dean needed; to walk away from all this and not have to think about losing another person.

Sighing, Sam did as he was told and started packing away the weapons that he had got out to clean, he could clean them at the next motel they got to, wherever that was.

"Dean," Sam started with a question that he now needed to ask, "If she needs our help…"

"Then we'll come back," Dean nodded, never able to leave someone in need, "If she calls and asks for help, we'll come back."

**There's the end of the next chapter. Let me know what you thought.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you again to those who reviewed, and to those who put me on their alert lists. I'm so happy that you're enjoying this story so I'm posting the next chapter up now for you.**

How to Save a Life

Chapter 3: Ruby

Buffy ducked the blow from the creature that swung at her. The creature was a vampire, but was nothing like the vampires that she usually faced. This vampire reminded her of the Master, an extremely old vampire that she had killed when she was only 16. He had killed her first, but Xander saved her so she could go on to kill him. That was seven years ago and she had not had to face another vampire like that since. She had faced Gods, ogres, robots, evil friends but since the Master she had not faced a vampire like this. It had been nicknamed an Ubervamp and she knew it has something to do with Spike's disappearance. They had spent a month searching for the vampire with a soul, not finding anything except this new vampire that had been working with the Harbringers – the fighters with no eyes.

The potential Slayers were watching her, well the ones that were more advanced in their training, it was a field mission for them. Mainly, it was so they could see that this vampire could be killed, after it had given Buffy a good beating three nights ago and killed one of the potentials.

Buffy spun around forwards and kicked out at the Ubervamp, who ducked from the attack, which made her have to kick out at it. The Ubervamp blocked the attack from the Slayer with his arms, moving his body out of the way, he was a quick thinking, ready for her. She threw a punch at the ugly looking vampire, which was once again blocked, but the momentum from the punch caused her to turn around. Using that momentum she spun around and kicked out again, this time backwards. This time she hit the Ubervamp in the face, but it did not seem to phase him.

Soon she found herself being kicked backwards, towards the scaffolding where the potentials and her friends all watched from, watching her losing the battle with the vampire. Finding a block of cement, she picked it up effortlessly with her Slayer strength and smashed it over the vampire's head. It phased him for a second but soon the vampire came back, kicking the Slayer backwards once again, causing her to fall on the floor. While she was down, he kicked her in the stomach, making her roll backwards, underneath the scaffolding.

Picking her up like a rag doll, the Ubervamp threw Buffy upwards into the wooden planks of the scaffolding for the workmen to walk on and then climbed up to her, kicking her sideways again.

Buffy managed to pull herself off the boards of the scaffolding, before the Ubervamp could attack her again and used her surroundings to her advantage. She saw a think metal chain hanging down from the scaffolding and sprinted to it. Using her momentum, she grabbed the chain and swung around to kick the vampire that had followed her down to the chain. Kicking him off the scaffolding, she shimmied down the chain, staying high enough to kick the vamp to the ground.

While the Ubervamp was down, she pulled the chain from the scaffolding, not a care in the world of what it was connected to and wrapped it around the vampire's neck, pulling tightly on it, until it decapitated the thing, 'dusting' it.

"See," she turned to the potentials that watched her, "They can all be killed."

Now all she had to do was get to Spike and she now had an idea of where he would be, where the Ubervamp had been hiding out.

* * *

Dean kept a close eye on the 'demon bitch' in front of him. The blonde haired girl had been saying for the past month now that she could save Dean from Hell. Sam, of course, decided to believe her since she had saved his life from three demons with a knife that could kill them, however Dean still had his doubts. Why would a Demon fight against her own kind? Why would she help the hunters?

"I knew Sam would summon you here," they had found a possible location on the demon that had killed their mother and were going after it, however Sam wanted the girl's help, much against Dean's likeness. Dean just had one use for her, "What lies are your spouting now?"

"I'm not telling him any lies, Dean," the girl glared at the older hunter, she could not stand his attitude, he was so close minded. She turned back to Sam, "It's suicide if you go this way."

"It wouldn't be if I could borrow your knife," Sam shook his head, "You'll get it right back once the demon's dead."

"You have the colt."

"The demon's managed to get his hands on the colt before," Sam informed Ruby, for some reason Dean would never acknowledge her by her name, "We could do with backup."

"You're not getting it."

"Well aren't you helpful," Dean rolled his eyes, stepping closer to the demon, "Just what I thought."

"What do you know?" Ruby questioned, turning to face Dean fully, only to be punched in the mouth. Her blue eyes glared at the older Winchester as she grabbed her mouth, tasting the metallic blood on her tongue. She chuckled slightly before punching Dean in the face and then upper-cutting him in the stomach.

"Hey!" Sam called out, trying to keep Ruby back, nobody would get away with hurting Dean, not even a demon who was trying to help them. Ruby turned around and looked at Sam, but before he could do anything, she elbowed him back and spun back around, punching the brunette in the process and then kicked him backwards into a wooden pole in Bobby's basement.

Turning her attention back at the blonde haired Winchester, she kicked him in the stomach, causing him to fall backwards onto the ground and then kicked him again, making him roll to the other side of the basement. She followed where he rolled and as he tried to pull himself off the ground, she grabbed his collar and head-butted him.

Dean gained his focus back and kicked Ruby backwards again, getting her just where he wanted. He made his way over to her, only to be grabbed once again, still it was just what he wanted at the time.

Ruby's head connected with Dean's once again, causing him to fall to the ground again. Ruby just watched him, out of breath from the fight, but still ready if he came at her again. What she did not expect however, was for him to start pulling himself off the ground, laughing.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Missing something?" Dean questioned and he pulled out the knife that he had managed to swipe from the blonde haired demon. He could see the shock in her eyes as she realised that he had gotten the better of her, but what was even better was just coming.

Ruby ran forward to get to Dean, but was stopped by an invisible force. Confused at first, she waited for Dean to say something, however he was looking upwards with a triumphant smirk. As she glanced to were he was looking, she realised that the whole fight was a trap. She was stuck inside a Devil's Trap. She could not escape nor could she use her powers. There was one way out for her, but it would take time.

"What the…?" Ruby started, looking at Dean's smirk.

"Like I said, I knew Sammy would summon you," Dean shrugged, "I was just ready for it. Come on, Sam."

The two brothers started to make their way out of the basement, Dean leading the way, the demon-killing knife still in his hand.

"Aren't you going to let me out of here?" the Winchesters continued to walk away, she continued shouting at him but he ignored everything until her last sentence, "I wish I could be in Hell with you, just to see you burn."

"And I wish you'd shut your pie hole," Dean shrugged, "But I guess we don't always get what we want."

* * *

"I can't believe you did that, Dean," Sammy said when they were on the road, making their way to where Bobby had found all the omens of a demon. The could not be certain that it was THE demon, but they could hope at least. One less demon on the Earth could only be a good thing, and with the Colt and now Ruby's knife, they could make sure the demons would be dead rather than just sent back to Hell, "You stole her knife."

"Well, she wasn't going to give you it," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "Anyway, she's a demon, you shouldn't care."

"Why is it all black and white with you?" the younger Winchester questioned, "She's helping you."

Before Dean could answer, his cell phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket as he continued to drive, glancing at the caller ID.

"It's Buffy," Dean frowned slightly and passed the phone to Sam, "Can you answer it, just tell her I'm busy of something."

"I thought you said you'd go and help her if she needed it." Sam frowned, slightly confused at the situation. He had not gotten any closer to finding out what Buffy had said to him than he was a month ago, when Dean went to tell her about the deal.

"I will, but the demon…"

Sighing, Sam answered the call. The Summers' voice came through on the other end.

"Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's Dean?"

"Busy at the moment," the brother sighed, glancing at Dean, "Do you want me to tell him to ring you back."

"No, I just have some information for you," Buffy confessed over the phone, "You need to get to Sunnydale as soon as you can."

"What? Why?"

"The demon that holds Dean's soul…" Buffy began, as the sound of someone calling for her in the background could be heard, "She's got something to do with what's going on here. Can you get here?"

"We'll be right there," once Sam hung up the call from the Slayer, he looked over to his brother, "Turn the car around, we're going to Sunnydale."

"Why?"

"She needs our help."

Instantly, the 1967 Chevy Impala turned around in the middle of the road and they were off to help the Slayer and her friends with their battle. Dean had turned his music up on the way there, while all Sam could think about was getting the demon that held the contract for his brother's soul. This was his way to save him.

* * *

Buffy made her way through the house, a blanket in her hand. Two new potential Slayers had turned up, and they were running out of places to put them. Kennedy was with Willow, three Slayers were in Buffy's bedroom, while four slept on the floor in Dawn's room. Xander, Giles, Anya, Andrew and the rest of the girls, fourteen Buffy thought she was on now, were in the living room. So far, the kitchen and dining room were free. Nobody would sleep in the basement, since Spike was now down there. For some reason, the potentials did not want to spend a night with the vampire with a soul.

Since Buffy had saved Spike from the underground, where the Ubervamp lived, he had slept in a cot made up in the basement, away from the sunlight, and Buffy had spent a lot of time with him to find out everything she could about the demon. She found out things, though, that she never thought would have come about.

The minute she called Dean's number, she started to regret it and then when Sam answered it was even worse. Dean was now avoiding her, at least that was what she thought otherwise why would Sam have Dean's phone? However, Dean and Sam both needed to know this. They needed to know that the demon that was bringing all of the Ubervamps to Earth and opening the Hellmouth – Sunnydale's Gates of Hell – was in fact the demon that held Dean's contract for his soul.

It was getting late now, Buffy could see through the window that it was getting dark. This was always the worst time, she always wondered whether anymore of the Ubervamps would 'come out and play'. They did not need an invitation to walk into someone's house, so would get through easily to attack them, they were the purest form of vampire.

Once she had passed the blanket to one of the new potentials that had turned up, she went back to wondering whether Dean really would come and help them. He had told her that he would, but things change within a month. Sam sounded almost definite on the phone, made it clear they were coming, but in the end Dean always ran the shows.

A knock at the door startled her out of her thoughts but she was too late to answer it as Kennedy made her way over and opened it, not really worried about it being an Ubervamp or a vampire, since they would not have knocked.

"Dean, right? I remember you." Kennedy smirked at the older hunter and then glanced at the tall brunette on the other side of him. She could not be sure who he was, but something told her it was Dean's brother, since Willow had mentioned something about Dean having a younger brother and Dean had also mentioned it when he was talking to Buffy a month ago.

"Hi, Buffy in?"

"Right here." Buffy called out just as she was handed another blanket, to start making up another bed for the other new potential. She looked up to see Dean and Sam walk into the house, while Kennedy closed the door.

"How's it going?" Dean asked, looking around the living room to see all the beds laid out, there were more than the last time he was here. How many potential Slayers were there? "Busy?"

"Just a bit," Buffy nodded her head, "Thanks for coming."

"You need our help, cause I'm here."

Buffy frowned slightly and then looked at Sam, realising that he had not told Dean why he was really here. What did Dean think he was here for?

"Actually, Dean," Sam bit his lip as he confessed he had lied to his brother, "She doesn't need our help. I said that to get you here."

The older Winchester looked at his brother and then back at the Slayer, who had now stopped making the bed.

"Why am I here then?" when neither of them answered, he sighed, "Someone tell me before I walk out of here."

"Well, I found out who the demon is that's been attacking the potential Slayers," Buffy sighed, looking at the hunter, her blue eyes showing that she was worried about how he was going to act at all of this, "And she holds your contract for your soul."

Dean narrowed his eyes and looked at the Slayer, folding his arms and shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"How do you know this exactly?"

"From me," a British male voice came from behind the two brothers. Dean turned around to see a peroxide blonde male stood there, dressed in all black in leather trousers and T-shirt. Dean could not help but wince as he saw all the cuts and bruises on the male's face and arms. He knew straight away that this was Spike and that he was a vampire, so to have all these cuts and bruises meant that it was one powerful demon, "It was that bloody bitch that had been holding me for weeks on end. She told me how she was getting her own way with everything. Your name popped up a couple of times."

"What was her name?" Sam now asked, coming up with a plan of attack to save Dean, "We'll go and hunt her down."

"Ruby," Spike answered, "Her name's Ruby."

**The end to another chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, please let me know what you thought. Honest opinion. I don't mind critisism, as long as its constructive so that way I can work on things.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hre's the next chapter for you to enjoy. Apologises for the lateness, there were lots of computer problems.**

How to Save a Life

Chapter 4: A Message

"Ruby?" Dean clarified the name, looking between the vampire and the Slayer, "Was she about so high, blonde hair, brown eyes?" Dean questioned, holding his hand at about the height of the female demon that they had fought just a day ago.

"Yeah, actually," Spike nodded his head, "You know her?"

"I told you she was lying, Sammy," Dean ignored the blonde vampire's question and glared at his younger brother, "She's been leading us into a trap all along. If it wasn't for me she would have killed you. It's a good job that we put her in that trap."

"You put her in a trap?" Buffy questioned, now standing up from the floor, folding her arms across her chest.

"Yeah and stole her knife."

"She was killing demons, Dean."

"Probably demons that don't want to follow her," Dean justified her actions of killing her own kind. He knew there was a reason you could not trust demons. Ex-demons he could just about understand, Anya had been extremely helpful to the 'Scoobies' as they nicknamed themselves, but you were either good or evil and you couldn't be good while being a demon, there was no way, "I'm gonna kill that bitch!"

"You're not doing it alone," Buffy shook her head, looking directly at the Winchester, "We're all going to help."

"I knew there was a reason that we couldn't trust Ruby, Sam," Dean shouted at his brother once they were in a motel room. If there was space at Buffy's they would have stayed there, but it was not possible with so many people fitting in that three-bedroom house so they decided on a motel as usual with their fake credit cards, "I kept telling you that she was a demon. You can never trust a demon, Sam."

"I know," Sam sighed, "But what could I do, Dean? She saved my ass a couple of times. I don't get why she said she could save you, though."

"It was a way of leading you in," the older Winchester explained, "The Yellow-Eyed Demon is still out there and I bet they're working together and need you. Demons will tell you anything to get you on their side, they play with your head, Sam, you know that."

Sam sighed, yes he did know that, he knew it all too well. Demons were always playing with their heads, saying something that would throw them off track. Interrupting his thoughts was a knock at the motel room door, causing him to sigh as he walked over to it, being the closest to it.

"Hey?" he said as he realised who it was on the other side of the door. Stepping aside, he let the petite blonde Slayer step in and looked at Dean, knowing exactly why she would be here, "I'll go and…do something…"

Closing the door behind him, Sam left his brother and the Vampire Slayer to talk, knowing that they needed to if they were going to work together.

Dean just looked at Buffy, wondering why she was here and how she had found him, how she figured out while room they were staying in. Had Sam said something to her?

"I'm sorry." Buffy said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that they were stuck in.

"For what?"

"The way we left things," the Slayer shrugged her shoulders, standing opposite the hunter, looking directly at him, "Me pretty much telling you to go. It just hurt when I realised that you would only be around for a year. There's so much…" Buffy stopped herself from saying anything, could she really say what she was thinking right now? Was now the right time? Maybe it was the only time to say something.

"I shouldn't have left," Dean shrugged his shoulders, he hated these moments but if the time called for one he would grit his teeth and go for it, "I should have stayed around to explain properly."

"You explained fine, Dean," Buffy sighed with a small frown as she put her hands to her temples, "I get why you did it, I was ready to give my life to save my sister, if you remember. You and Sam just came along at the right time, with the right incantation, and stopped the end of the world. I know what that sibling bond is like. Just so you know, I'm not pissed off at you for it and I'd rather have you in my life now than lose you in a year and never be able to see you."

The Winchester sighed slightly, listening to what the Slayer had to say. He was just so worried that he would lose her before his time was up.

"I didn't really stick around because I was worried that I'd lose you too," Dean admitted with a shrug, it was not often that he admitted something like this and very rarely that he admitted what he was about to admit, "I love you, Buffy."

Buffy looked at the blonde haired hunter, shock in her blue eyes but soon it turned to happiness, as she smiled at Dean.

"Did I just hear you right?" she asked him, unsure of whether she was hearing things, "Did you just say…"

"I love you, Buffy Summers," Dean smiled, "I don't say that often, but I'm saying it to you," Dean closed the gap on them and then looked at her, biting his lip slightly, "You're going to say that you don't want anything to heavy now, aren't you?"

"No," Buffy shook her head, she may only get eleven months with the Winchester, but she was going to take it, it was better than none, "I love you too. I have for a while."

Smiling in a loving way, Dean cupped the Slayer's cheek with his palm and kissed her gently on the lips, they were going to go where they never had before, consummate their love before it was too late, while the time was right.

* * *

"The Turok Han was worse than the Harbringers, they're strong, Buffy only just defeated the last one," Giles explained to the youngest Winchester as they sat at the dining room table at the Summers' residence, "It takes someone with Slayer strength."

"So, only Buffy can take on them?"

"Well, there is another Slayer, but…"

"Faith, yeah, I remember Buffy saying something once about her," Sam nodded his head, "How many of these Turok Hans do you have?"

"We've only had one," the Watcher explained as he went through the notes on everything that they had faced recently, finding how it was all connected. It was useful having a new set of eyes to look over everything, "He was keeping Spike, well, guarding him. We think he was acting as a watch-dog for Ruby."

"Makes sense," Sam nodded his head in agreement, "She was with us a lot of the time, 'helping' us. So, the Harbringers…"

"They're blind and dumb," Giles went onto explain about the fighting monks, "But they can fight. They are the ones that have killed the other Potential Slayers."

"Any extra strength?" Sam had to check, since a lot of the time the demons that Buffy fought did have supernatural strength.

"No, we've fought them ourselves, there's lots of them though."

As Sam found out more about what they were facing, and who Ruby had working for her, he began to think of what the Yellow-Eyed Demon had said to him when he had been trapped in the deserted town, before Dean and Bobby had found him. He remembered that the Demon had mentioned something about a war and that he wanted Sam to lead the war. One of the 'special children' would be the leader of the demon army. Ruby had to have something to do with that, either she was trying to trick Sam into working with her and kill the Yellow-Eyed Demon or she was working with the aforementioned demon and was trying to get Sam to go with their plan, maybe killing Dean in the process. He did not know and right now he did not care, all that mattered was that she held his brother's contract, he had to kill her to save Dean. In theory it sounded so evil, but there really was so much that they did not know about her yet.

"Has Buffy made any plans yet?" Sam now asked, "I mean, we can't just turn up and kill Ruby, it won't work like that."

"I'm not sure yet," Giles shook his head, "We're still training the girls."

* * *

A blonde girl ran at top speed through the cemetery, running away from her attacker. She could not see who her attacker was, but she knew it was one of them. The girl stopped and looked around, she needed a place to hide. Anyway where away from the blonde haired man that was attacking her.

Suddenly, she felt herself being pushed to the ground from behind and then the lack of breath on the back of her neck. The man above her felt cold as he knelt on her back. She knew it was coming now, but then the weight seemed to move. She took that time to turn around to see her pursuer was now in a battle with a young brunette woman. She recognised the woman straight away and now that she could see the man, she realised who it was. She should have known, but what she did not understand was why this woman was fighting the man, she expected her to come to her.

"Whatcha wanna do to her, vamp?" the brunette asked, looking at the peroxide blonde man, as she circled him, her cocky attitude was going to get the better of her one day, "Huh? Somethin' like this?"

She punched the vampire in the face, causing him to fall to the ground. The vampire pulled himself up and looked at the woman, rolling his eyes.

"Nice punch you got there," he told her, simply, "Lemme guess. Leather pants, nice right cross, doe eyes, holier-than-thou glower…you must be Faith."

"Oh goodie," the rogue Vampire Slayer shrugged with a grin, "I'm famous."

"Told you were coming," the vampire pointed out, "Bit of a misunderstanding here, I'm…"

"Spike," Faith nodded her head, she remembered him from when she swapped bodies with Buffy about three years ago, "Yeah, we've met before."

"We have? I don't think we…" Spike could not finish his sentence as he was kicked in the torso by the brunette Slayer, catching him off guard, "Bloody hell!" his cockney accent came on strong as he shouted at the woman, "What're you doing? I'm on your side?"

"Yeah? Maybe you haven't heard. I've reformed." She punched Spike after she spoke.

"So have I," Spike now said, punching the Slayer back, "I reformed way before you did," while they spoke, they continued to fight. Faith threw another punch at Spike, "Stop…" and antoher, "Hitting…" and another, "Me! We're on the same side."

"Please. You think I'm stupid?"

"Well, yeah." The peroxide blonde vampire nodded his head with a grin at the rogue Slayer.

"You were attacking that girl." Again she punched that vampire in the face. Suddenly somebody him her in the face, knocking her to the ground. Looking up, she realised that it was her once good friend Buffy standing above her. They became friends when they first met, when Faith was called as a Slayer after Kendra had been killed by Spike's then vampire girlfriend, Drusilla. It was a long and complicated story and best off for another time. Right now, Faith was looking up at the blonde haired Vampire Slayer and could see someone just behind her.

"Sorry, Faith," the blonde apologised, innocence lacing her voice, "I didn't realise that was you."

"It's all right, B," Faith said as she pulled herself from the ground, "Luckily, you still punch like a girl."

For a moment, Buffy glared at the brunette Slayer before turning her attention to the vampire that she had attacked, making sure that he was not hurt.

"Are you protecting vampires?" Faith asked, slightly taken aback as she looked between the Slayer and Vampire, "Are you the bad Slayer now? AM I the good Slayer now?"

"He's with me," Buffy sighed, "He has a soul."

"Oh, he's like Angel?"

"No!" Spike quickly butted into the conversation.

"Sort of."

"I'm nothing like Angel."

"He fights on my side," the blonde haired 23-year-old answered the other woman, "Which is more than I can say for some of us."

"Yeah, well, if he's so good, what's he doing chasing down defenceless…" Faith did not have a chance to finish off her sentence as the young girl that Spike had been chasing now stood up and growled. She attacked Faith, knowing her down to the grassy ground.

"That's one of the bad guys." Buffy pointed at the woman, as the vampire and rogue Slayer fought.

"You should make 'em wear a sign," Faith told Buffy as she fought the vampire that was now attacking. Reaching around the woman, she looked at Buffy's pocket full of stakes, "May I?" taking a wooden stake, she smiled, "Thanks." Faith continued to fight the woman off until she had a chance to 'dust her'.

"Angel's dull as a table lamp," Spike was still going on about the tall brunette vampire that also had a soul and was Buffy's ex-boyfriend and first love, "And we have very different colouring."

"Angel, as in your vampire ex-boyfriend?" Now the other person that stood in the cemetery asked, causing Buffy, Spike and Faith to all look at him.

"Who's this?" Faith asked, seeing a well-built, tall, blonde haired man stood there, in ripped jeans and a brown leather jacket.

"This is Dean," Buffy explained to the Slayer, "He's here to help."

"Ok," Faith sighed, nodding her head at the hunter, "Anything else I gotta know?"

"Nice to have you back."

* * *

Dawn made her way over to the door as she heard it open. She knew who it was going to be and was not at all happy about it. She stood at the bottom of the stairs, her arms crossed over her chest as Buffy walked in followed by Dean, Spike and the brunette female that she did not want in her house.

"Buffy?" She questioned, once the two had finished talking about living in the same house but with new furniture. She looked at the brunette Slayer in a disgusted manner.

"We have a new house guest." Buffy had decided that the rogue Slayer could stay with them, she had said the same to Dean and Sam, but they had decided a motel was best, something about too many people and more importantly, too many girls.

"Hey, got a spare bed for a wanted fugitive?"

"Hello, Faith." Giles spoke as he and Sam made their way into the hallway from the dining area. Sam threw a glance at Dean, questioning who she was and why the tension in the air was so thick, but the older Winchester would have to explain later. Dean had heard a little of the story from Buffy while they had been on vampire patrol in the cemetery but he did not know the full story as of yet.

"Well I guess 'wanted' wasn't really accurate…"

"Does she have to stay here?" Dawn now questioned, causing Dean to look at the younger Summers with raised eyebrows. Dawn was not that great with a lot of people, but she would deal with them living in the house, this woman must have done something big for Dawn to try and kick her out already, "Because there's some nce hotels that welcome tried-to-kill-your-sister types."

Dean's eyebrows raised even more but he could not ask anything as Buffy had gone on to mention about a girl in the hospital, a possible new Potential Slayer.

"Willow said that she would call if the girl wakes up." Giles explained to the Slayer, who just glared at her Watcher before walking out of the room.

Sensing the tension in the air, and knowing that there was something about Giles, Dean decided to follow his now girlfriend, well at least after last night he figured she was his girlfriend, they had not said it as of yet. He left his brother with the other Slayer and the rest of the gang.

"What was all that about?" Sam asked, as Giles and Dawn walked away from Faith. He looked at the brunette and held out his hand for her to shake, "I'm Sam, by the way."

"Faith," the woman simply said, not taking the hunters hand, "Dean's brother, right? Buffy said on the way back."

"Don't worry about all that tension, it wasn't all about you," Spike now explained to the rogue Slayer, "Giles was a part of a plan to stop her from finding a way to save Dean, for her own good."

"Save him?" Faith questioned, looking between Spike and Sam, "You know what, don't go into it, I'm sure I'll find out eventually. Well, it makes me feel better about me, worse about Giles and kinda shaky about you and Dean, and you," she looked at Sam, "Actually."

"Don't worry, we're the good guys."

* * *

"She tried to kill you?" Dean questioned as he followed Buffy into the kitchen, "You didn't think of telling me that? You know like, we're meeting the other Slayer that I told you about, by the way, my sister hates her because she tried to kill me!"

"Dean! You didn't need to know that," the blonde woman sighed, looking at the hunter, "It's in the past. I tried to get revenge but Angel stopped me. He helped her. She went to jail and now she's out. She's on our side again," Dean shook his head as he rubbed his eyes, there was so much that he did not know about this woman, "Dawn will get over it eventually once Faith does something to help us."

"And what was with Giles?" Dean asked, "I could tell that you were pissed at him. I've seen it for a few days now, since I got here."

The Slayer sighed as she went onto explain that Giles had wanted Buffy to concentrate on the demon that they were facing, of course this was before they knew who the demon really was. He wanted her to forget about trying to find a way to save Dean from his deal and concentrate on the potentials.

"You should have forgotten about me," Dean nodded his head, "I got myself into the mess, I'll find a way out myself."

"Dean…" Buffy started to argue with the hunter, but realised that it was no use, he was too stubborn for his own good, "Anyway, we know our fights are connected now and you're here. We just need to kill her and save you."

Dean could not argue with the woman, knew that it would be no use. Mind you, he did not have the chance to argue with her as Xander walked into the kitchen to see them.

"Buffy, Willow called, the girl's awake."

* * *

"So, do you want to tell me who that woman was?" Sam questioned as they sat in the Impala, getting ready to drive away from the Summers' residence. Buffy had gone to the hospital, with Xander, to meet the young girl and they were going to go back to the motel to do a little research into Ruby, find out as much as they could about her, since the 'Scoobies' had come up with very little.

"She's the other Slayer that Buffy mentioned." Dean shrugged his shoulders as he started up the engine and drove off in the direction their motel.

"I got that much," Sam rolled his green eyes, "What was Dawn talking about? Killing her sister?"

"Oh, Faith tried to kill Buffy," Dean answered, "She hasn't told me the details. Faith turned a little evil a few years ago. Buffy put her in a coma but then she came back for revenge. Angel helped her."

"Angel?"

"Buffy's vampire ex-boyfriend."

Sam simply nodded his head, the Summers were just as complicated as the Winchesters, he already knew that so why was he surprised that this had all happened? After all, just a few months ago Sam had tried to kill his own brother, sure he was possessed at the time, but it still happened.

Knowing that that was all he was going to get from the older Winchester, Sam decided to stop asking questions, after all they had a demon to find out about, maybe Bobby would know something.

* * *

Buffy looked down at the Potential Slayer that laid in the hospital bed. Bandages covered her neck and her stomach and the poor girl was pale, she was looking to be alive from the attack. Scratches and cuts covered her head from where she had been pushed out of the moving vehicle. She was extremely lucky that Willow and Faith had been driving along the same road just minutes behind, otherwise she may not have been here right now.

"He was a minister or something," the young brunette girl explained to the Slayer, she would always remember her attacker, his face was embedded into her memory for life, "At least, he dressed like one. I thought he was trying to save me…at first."

Buffy stood with her two friends either side of her, listening to all the information the young potential could give.

"He – he picked you up on the side of the road?"

"Bringers were chasing me," the young girl had been told by Willow who the men with no eyes were, "He said they were his boys…right before he burned me."

Moving the bandages on her neck to one side, she showed the three friends the burn mark in the form of a cross that was there. The minister had heated up a ring on his finger with the cigarette lighter from the car and burned her before she was stabbed and thrown out on the roadside. Buffy bit her lip as she heard everything, there was a minister in the game too but he sounded human, which worried her even more.

"He wanted to tell you something," the young girl continued, Before he…cut me…he told me to give the Slayer a message."

"What is it?" Buffy asked, moving closer to the girl.

"He said," she started, looking into Buffy's blue eyes, "'I have something of yours.'"

* * *

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	5. Chapter 5

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**Anyway, onto the next chapter.**

How to Save a Life

Chapter 5: The First Attack

"We need to start arming the girls," Buffy spoke to her friends and the dark Slayer that sat in the living room of the house, "I wanna be ready to move when we find him."

"We don't even know where we're going." Willow looked at her blonde haired friend, she knew that they had to act fast, that this could be the answer to so many questions but they needed to think rationally and not just go in all guns blazing.

"'S why I figured we'd do a little recon first," she shrugged her shoulders before looking at the brunette Slayer, "You up for it?"

"Point me where you want me." Faith may have been up for this, but the others did not seem too happy about the idea.

"And you're certain this is the best course of action?" Giles wanted to make sure the woman he thought of as a daughter was really thinking properly about this, "You don't even know what this man has of yours – if he, in fact, has anything."

The sound of the front door opening could be heard, but Buffy ignored it knowing who it was going to be and continued her conversation with her Watcher.

"It could be a girl, a potential trying to get to us."

"It could be a stapler." Giles informed her as he looked up to see two men walking into the room.

"Going in anyway."

"Going in where?" Dean's voice called out, looking at the Slayer with caution. She had called him, asking him and Sam to get here as soon as possible, but had no idea what for.

"Buffy, most of the girls have yet to be in the field, let alone in a life or death situation."

"Then its time we test them," Buffy sighed, "Look, I'll just take the ones that have been here the longest. The rest can stay behind."

"What's going on?" Dean asked again, since everybody seemed to be ignoring him, "Where are you going?"

"The potential was attacked by a minister," Willow explained to the hunter, looking up at him with worried chocolate eyes, "He said that he has something of Buffy's and she wants to go in."

"No way," Dean shook his head, looking directly at the young blonde, "You can't go in, it could be a trap. Just what he wants you to do – the old bait-and-switch."

"He could lure you away and then kill the ones you leave behind." Sam pointed out, agreeing with his brother. Dean definitely had a point, it was not safe if they did not know what they were looking for exactly.

"I know, that's why I called you. I need you two to stay here with them," Buffy looked mainly at Dean, but when his gaze turned to one of disbelief and anger she turned her attention mostly to Sam, "With Will, of course. She's my most powerful weapon and with you two I know you can keep them safe if anything happens."

"AN unknown man breezes into town, says he has something of yours. Buffy, this things got 'trap' written all over it." Xander tried to reason with his friend when he realised that the Winchesters were completely lost for words. She really had thought this through, she and Faith do a little recon, Willow, Dean and Sam stay to protect the girls they leave behind…but he could not understand why she had not thought as far ahead as the fact that it could be a trap.

"He won't be expecting a full attack – not this soon," Buffy pointed out to her friends, "That's why we have to move."

"We know nothing about this man," Giles pleaded with the woman for the girls' safety, "We cannot go into battle unprepared. We have to have more time."

"Giles, we don't have time!" Buffy emphasised, "And you're not going into battle. I need you to stay behind with the others. Help the girls who still need a teacher."

The others may have lost on this battle, but Dean was not giving up on trying. He had to make her see sense.

"You can't go, Buf, its not safe for you," he pleaded with her, "Like Xander said, it's a trap and the girls aren't ready, even the ones that have been here to longest."

"Dean, this isn't up for discussion," the Slayer shook her head, "Faith, let's go."

* * *

Dean stayed at the house while he waited for Buffy and the other Slayer to go on their recon. He hated this idea, not just that fact that it was a trap but also because he was with the Slayer that tried to kill her three years ago.

He paced the living room floor, waiting for her to return, not realising that he was making all the other girls worry.

"Dean, sit down, please," Sam looked up at his brother, as he looked through his laptop at some of the information Bobby had sent them that night when they got back to the motel. The younger Winchester sighed when he realised that his brother was ignoring him and then looked towards the girls who were still watching the older hunter. He felt so sorry for them, they had lived normal lives for so long and now they were thrown into the middle of this, "Dean, sit down! Dean!"

Dean's head shot up and looked straight at his brother, he barely even realised that he had been pacing, he was thinking that much. Sighing, he sat on the couch and looked at the laptop, but he could not stop fidgeting.

"What's taking them so long?" Dean finally said, looking up to see some of the potentials looking at him. He then noticed Willow, Xander and Giles all staring too, "They only went on a recon. I knew I should have gone with them."

"What could you have done, Dean?" Sam asked, looking at his brother, shaking his head, "You'd just slow them down, they have Slayer speed." Sam could not help but chuckle as he saw his big brother roll his eyes.

"Right, girls, now listen in," Xander took over, causing Dean too look up at the handyman, "We're looking for killer blows. Chest and throat if it's a vampire. Stomach, chest and face if it's a Bringer."

"What if it's something else?" one of the potentials, Dean recalled her name as Rona although he could not be certain. Dean chuckled at what she asked, of course there was something else, there was a man that nobody knew anything about.

"Could happen." Xander nodded his head, so much for him trying to keep the girls calm, "If it has tentacles don't go for them just because they're waving them about trying to get attention. Go for the centre, brains, heart and eyes. Everything has eyes."

"Except for the Bringers." Dawn now pointed out, causing Dean to laugh a little more, this time earning a playful glare from him girlfriend's baby sister.

"Except for the Bringers." Xander nodded his head.

"This is crazy," Rona now sighed, "How can she take us straight to the bad guy's lair?"

"Well, that is where you usually find the bad guy." Dean pointed out to the young girl, probably not the best idea to keep their nerves calm but right now he did not care about them, he cared more about the fact that Buffy was not back yet.

"I didn't come to fight the bad guy, I came here for protection."

"You get mixed with Buffy, you always end up fighting." Dean shrugged his shoulders.

"How did you get mixed up with her?" Kennedy now asked, sitting on the chair arm, next to Willow. Dean could not help but let his eyes trail to Kennedy's arm, where Willow was stroking gently. He shook his head to clear it and try and think of what he was going to tell them. How he met Buffy.

"He saved my life," Dawn answered for the Winchester, "They both did."

"All the hell dimensions were going to open." Willow clarified it a little more.

"So what are you? Willow told me you were hunters, but you have special powers right?"

"Powers?" Dean repeated with a laugh and shook his head, "No powers, just two guys that drive around killing the supernatural."

"So, how can you help us?" Rona now asked, "How can you protect us? Buffy's leaving us with two guys who have no powers and a witch who is reluctant to use her magic!"

"Let me tell you something about Buffy," Xander now spoke up and looked at the girls, "In fact you should all listen to this."

"Uh, we kinda were." Kennedy pointed out since all the girls and even the two Winchester were listening to what the man had to say.

"I've been through more battles with Buffy than you all can ever imagine," Xander started, "She's stopped everything that's ever come up against her," nobody realised that at this point Buffy and Faith had returned, "She's laid down her life, literally, to protect the people around her. This girl has died and she's still standing. You're scared? That's smart. You got questions? You should. But you doubt her motives, you think Buffy's all about the kill, then you take the little bus to battle. I've seen her heart, and this time not literally, and I'm telling you, right now, she cares more about your lives than you will ever know. You gotta trust her. She's earned it."

Dean nodded his head slowly, completely in agreement in what Xander had just said, but a little shocked at the way he had put it. Usually Xander was the joker of the group, but for the first time he had made a speech without tripping over his words, without making jokes and for once sounded totally serious.

"Damn," Faith said, now making their presence known, "I never knew you were that cool."

"Well," Buffy shrugged as everybody turned to look at the two Slayers, "You always were a little slow."

"I get that now."

"All right, let's saddle up."

* * *

Buffy stood in the woods, where she and Faith had followed a Bringer to earlier. They had seen a group of Bringers congregating outside a vineyard and decided that that had to be the place where this minister was.

Xander, Faith and Spike were all with her, along with five of the potentials, the five that had been with them the longest and had learnt everything they needed.

"Ok, set up a perimeter," Buffy ordered half of her team, "Guard the door. I don't want anything getting in behind us. My team goes in first, we check the place out," now she was mainly looking at Xander, "You guys are our safety-net. If this place is a trap, we give the signal, you guys come in, guns a-blazing."

"So, what's the signal?" Xander asked, in a hushed voice.

"I'm thinking lots and lots of yelling."

"Got it."

"Shall we?"

Buffy stepped into the vineyard, with her team – Spike, Kennedy, Rona and Amanda, one of the other potentials. As she looked around into the shadows, a group of Bringers stepped out from behind some of the barrels of wine and attacked. The fight was fairly even until a tall man with dark hair, dressed as a priest, stepped out of the shadows.

"Well, now," the minister spoke, his arms crossed firmly across his chest. The Bringers retreated and stepped back into the shadows, "You girls are just burning with righteousness, aren't you? Problem is, you think you're blazing like suns, when really you're burning like matchsticks in the face of darkness," Buffy knew straight away that this was the minister the potential was talking about in the hospital, he didn't look that tough to beat, "You having fun? Now, I hope my boys haven't worn you out too much – I need you fit for when I purify you."

"Save the sermon, padre," the blonde haired Slayer rolled her eyes, "I heard you have something of mine."

"Well, I do now," Caleb, the minister, chuckled, "You liked my little message, did you? You know, I ruined a perfectly good knife on that girl. Got her soiled blood all over the place. I may have to get a new truck," he chuckled again at the taken aback look from Buffy, "So, you're the Slayer. _The_ Slayer. The strongest, the fastest, the most aflame with that most precious invention of all mankind – the notion of goodness. The Slayer must indeed be powerful," with one powerful punch, he sent the Slayer flying across the room, into a brick wall, and then looked at the others with a smug grin, "So, what else you got?"

Spike's face turned into that of a vampire, his nose scrunched up at the top, his eyes turned red and his canine teeth grew, and he attacked Caleb, however he was pushed down with ease. The vampire tried to stand up, but he was head-butted by Caleb and then throw across the room into a large wine storage tanks. The tank burst and wine began to pour out, washing Spike to the floor. By now, Faith, Xander and the other potentials ran into the room and Faith took on the minister as the Bringers came back to attack.

A Bringer, who was attacking one of the potentials, stopped when an arrow shot him in the arm. He turned to look at Xander, who was aiming a crossbow at him. The Bringer left the potential and went after Xander instead.

Buffy slowly came around from the blow to the head she received when she hit the wall and looked up at the girls who were in the middle fighting. During the fight, she watched as Faith battled against Caleb, but was thrown into a wine barrel. As the barrel knocked over she saw a trap door that lead to somewhere underground. That had to be where whatever belonged to her really was. Pulling herself off tehe gorund, pain searing through her body, she pushed past at the fighting to get to the open trap door and slid into it with ease, unsure if anybody had seen that she had left.

Buffy looked around at what she was meant to be hers and then instantly spotted it. A bright, shiny weapon stuck in a rock. She was drawn straight to it, although she could not say quite why that was.

"So, you found it," Caleb's voice called up from behind her, causing the Slayer to turn around and see the minister. Obviously he had noticed her missing and knew where she would have gone,"Not impressed. 'Cause the question now, girly girl, is can you pry it from solid rock before I come over there…"

Buffy placed her hands on the handle of the shiny, scythe shaped weapon from the stone with one hand, extremely easy. She glanced over at Caleb, a smirk on her face.

"Hmm!" Caleb simply said, but shock and worry in his voice, "Darn. Now before you go hurting yourself with that thing, why don't you do yourself a courtesy and hand it over now?"

"Yeah?" Buffy cocked her head to the side, "You want it?" She hoisted the weapon up with ease and smirked at Caleb as he took a step back, smiling nervously.

"You don't even know what you got there." Caleb nervously spoke, taking another step away from the Slayer with the weapon.

"I know you're backing away."

"You think wielding some 2-sided doo-dad's gonna make a difference?" Caleb asked. Buffy was about to attack him, just to find out, but Faith and Kennedy came running for the steps to the basement of the vineyard.

"Buffy, we've got to move," Kennedy spoke, "Rona, she's hurt, badly, and Molly…"

Buffy glanced at Caleb and then ran to the stairs, running up them and followed the Slayer and Potential up them with the weapon in her hand.

All Caleb could do was watch the blonde haired Slayer run up the stairs and leaving with the weapon.

* * *

"I think it's maybe some kind of scythe," Buffy addressed Willow, Giles, Dean and Sam, who all sat in the master bedroom. Sam sat with Willow at the laptop, while Dean and Giles sat on the bed. Dean held the scythe, looking it over and then passed it to Giles, while Buffy continued to talk in front of them, "The only thing I know for sure is it made Caleb back off in a hurry."

"So it's true," Willow giggled, pushing Sam playfully as the searched the internet, "Scythe matters."

"And, ignoring that…" Giles started while Buffy and the two Winchesters smiled at the wiccan's play on words, "I'd just like to point out this is really quite ingenious."

While Giles played with the weapon slightly, Buffy made a comment about it being able to killed bodies in 3 ways, since not only did it have a shape blade, with a hand to it, you could hold it like a normal axe and had a wooden end with a point.

"And you say you sense something when you hold it?" Dean questioned, since he sensed nothing when he held onto it just moments earlier.

"Not much, but it's strong," the Slayer nodded her head, "And I knew it belonged to me. I just knew it."

"In addition to being ancient, its clearly mystical." Giles spoke again, inspecting the weapon closely.

"Yeah, I figured that one out when I King Arthured it out of the stone."

"Maybe its some kind of traditional Slayer weapon." Sam offered, looking directly at Giles, if anybody knew that he would know, of course the Watcher had never heard of anything, which put them back at square one.

"I'm guessing Caleb really wanted it out of the stone." Buffy shrugged her shoulders now, sighing slightly that they were at another dead end.

"Do you think Caleb's working with Ruby?" Sam questioned, mainly looking at his brother, who sighed slightly and looked at Buffy.

"What was this Caleb guy like?" Dean asked her, "Black eyes? Weird psychic powers?"

"He was human, but had supernatural strength," Buffy shook her head, "Knocked me off my feet with one punch."

"So he could be," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe she's found someone that can take care of the potentials while she tries to trick us or something," Dean stood up and started pacing the floor, "I don't know, but we need to take care of him first. He's obviously a big threat."

"Well, we need to find out anything we can about this," Buffy now said, taking her weapon from her Watcher and glancing at Willow and Sam, "Who made it, when, why? Does it have a name? I don't know, a credit report? Just find out fast."

"We're on it immediately." Sam nodded his head, turning back to the computer and typing away at it.

"Yeah, don't worry, Buff," she smiled at her friend, "We'll find out everything there is to know."

Buffy nodded her head and made her way out of the bedroom, she had to get to the hospital to make sure that Rona was ok, after she had been stabbed and had her hand broken by Caleb. At the moment, Faith was there, while Kennedy and Xander looked after the three potential that had incurred injuries from the battle against the Bringers.

Dean watched as she left and sighed, he was not liking where this fight was going and needed to talk to the Slayer, maybe taking to Faith would help first, maybe she could convince Buffy to stop going in half-cocked.

Sam looked up as Dean walked out of the room but needed to get back onto the research, something that he was good at.

"Ok, before the vineyard was just, you know, a vineyard, it was a monastery," Willow informed the two others as she worked from her own laptop, while Sam searched on his. Willow had decided to research into the vineyard, there must have been a reason it was there, "Could've been put there then. Some creepy monks messing with powers they don't understand."

"No, it's older than that," Giles disagreed, "It's pre-Christian."

"Well, I found a reference to stories the monks used to tell about something odler. Uh, like, some kind of pagan temple."

"Native American?"

"No," Willow shook her head but then sighed, "I don't know. Ugh. Ok, maybe we're going about this the wrong way."

"Well, I'm researching the weapon itself," Sam explained, looking at a page on the 'History of the Axe', "There's a possibility that it could be the Axe of Dekeron, said to be forged in hell itself. Lost since the Children's crusade, where it was said to have killed," Sam stopped as he realised what he was reading about and then sighed, "Children. It's definitely not that."

"Well, I have references to the Sword of Moskva," Giles sighed, looking through some of his books that he had now scattered across the bed, "The Reaper of the Tigris – how are we supposed to narrow this down?" Giles stood up and walked towards the window, while Willow picked up the scythe, "Do you sense any of the power that Buffy spoke about?"

"Gotta say no," Willow shook her head with a sigh, "Must be a Slayer thing."

"I don't think Dean could either," Sam interrupted, "He would have said something otherwise."

"Tapping into magicks might help with that." Giles offered, looking over at the Wiccan.

"Maybe," Willow sighed, reluctantly, "But, if Caleb is scared of this thing, it must be pretty dangerous. And tapping into that…"

"I think I may have something," Sam said, almost to himself, if it wasn't for Willow trailing off from her sentence, the other two may not have actually heard him. However, they did, so they were now looking at him, "'M' question mark, that's a international phonetic alphabet symbol, isn't it?" The brunette Winchester looked directly at Giles, knowing that he would know something, he was a fountain of knowledge.

"Yes, that's the symbol for Glottal Stop."

"The whoey?" Willow asked looking between the two.

"Its sort of a gulping noise, if I'm right." Sam spoke again, still looking at Giles for confirmation.

"Yes, you're right," Giles informed the brunette, but could see that Willow was still confused, "They're hieroglyphs, which stand for a set of consonants, as you know."

"Yes, absolutely."

"Well, 'M' plus Glottal Stop is represented by a picture that's commonly thought to symbolise a sickle or a scythe." Giles explained to the witch.

"They're on carvings all over the world, mainly in Egypt though," Sam went on, "Carvings liked you'd find on a pagan temple."

Sam and Giles looked at each other for a moment and then back at Willow, a sudden thought had occurred to them.

"Go back to that temple," Giles told the young witch, "See what else we can find out about it. The scythe is a symbol of death, let's see where these pagans buried their dead."

**Another end to another chapter. Please please please do tell me what you thought of it, just press the little button at the bottom of the page that says 'go'.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, here's a new chapter for you to enjoy**

How to Save a Life

Chapter 6: The Plan

Buffy stood in front of her friends and the Potential Slayers, who were all sat and stood around in the living room of the house. It had been four days since she had found the scythe and she had not let go of it, however, because of her plan, which she was about to tell everybody about, she had lost two key players.

--Flashback--

Buffy stood with Dean, in the basement, where they could be alone to talk. Just a day ago they had found the scythe and found out what they needed to know about it, and now Buffy was planning on a full scale attack at the Hellmouth, knowing that that was where the demon would be. The Hellmouth held the power in Sunnydale and all demons went where the power was.

Deciding on this fact, she knew that Ruby would be there and with this new weapon, now would be the time to attack her and save Dean from his upcoming trip to hell. Of course, she would use his help, with the knife and the colt that he had, however, Dean did not like the idea.

"Dean, we go down there and get her before you have to go to hell," Buffy tried to reason with the hunter, "I'm trying to save your life."

"And how do you plan to get past all the vampire and the Bringers? They're gonna be down there and there's only two of you that have the strength," Dean pointed out the situation to his girlfriend, "Do you even know how you're going to get past that?"

"I have a plan," Buffy nodded her head, "I can use Willow and the scythe."

The hunter paced in front of the blonde woman, as she explained to him the situation to him and her plan of attack, which made Dean hate the plan even more.

"No way," Dean shook his head, "You can't do that, they're not ready for that. Not against Ruby! She's tough!"

"And you can tell them her weaknesses, you've faced her before."

"No, Buffy," Dean shook his head, "You can't ask them to do that! They're just girls, teenagers. Would you ask your sister to do that?"

"If she was a potential, yes," Buffy nodded her head, "And she's going to be there, with Xander, she's going to be ready if the vampires start to escape."

Dean turned away from the Slayer, shaking his head, he just did not like this idea, there were far too many lives at stake.

"Dean, I need you there with me," Buffy pleaded with the Winchester, "I need you to standby me with this plan and to fight. Use the colt and the knife against the demons."

"No, Buffy, I can't."

"Dean, I'm doing this to save your life."

"I don't want saving, Buffy!" Dean shouted at the woman, "I sold my soul, it was my choice. I did it to save my brother and if I weasel out of this deal, that's it, Sam goes back to being rotting bones. I can't do that, Buffy, I can't…" Dean's voice cracked at the thought of losing his brother.

"But if we kill the demon that holds the contract for your soul…"

"No, Buffy!" Dean shook his head, "I've told Sam and I'm telling you. Don't try and save me. I can't be saved."

"Well, if you won't fight with me, I can't have you here," Buffy sighed, shaking her head as she looked at the blonde haired Winchester, tears in her blue eyes, "I can't do this if you're here but won't help."

Dean turned around to face the Slayer, tears now forming in his green eyes.

"So you want me to go," Dean questioned, trying to keep his game face on but he knew it was failing, "You want me to leave you while you battle a demon that could kill you?"

"I face death every day, Dean," Buffy sighed, "Just like you. I want you with me on this one…"

"But I can't do that," Dean shook his head, "I can't stand there and watch as you take those girls with you and get them killed."

"It's war, there's always casualties," Buffy shouted at the hunter, how could he judge her when he had never faced something of this size, "You know, I'm just trying to save you, as well as stop anymore potentials from dying. Just leave, ok? I don't need you here anymore."

"Fine," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "I'll leave tonight."

With that, Dean walked out of the basement to find his brother. He could not believe he had been here for just over a month now, while they found out how their fights were connected and the best course of action and now he was leaving before the demon was dead.

--End of Flashback--

With Dean and Sam out of the fight, it left her with two less weapons and less knowledge of who Ruby really was and how they could defeat her. Buffy had to hope that her weapon would be enough against the blonde bitch that they were facing, as well as her idea, something she had come up with and spoke to Willow about long before she spoke to Dean about the fight.

--Flashback--

"What do you think?" Buffy questioned the group that sat in front of her in Willow's bedroom. Willow, Xander, Giles, Dawn, Anya and Faith were all sat on the bed, as Buffy stood opposite them, the scythe in her hand.

"That depends," Xander shrugged his shoulders, casually, "Are you in any way…kidding?"

"You don't think it's a good idea?" Buffy asked, biting her bottom lip. She needed her friends' opinion on this matter, this was a life or death situation.

"It's pretty radical, B." Faith pointed out to her fellow Slayer.

"It's a lot more than that," Giles spoke up, looking directly at the blonde. Standing up from the bed, he made his way over to the window, "Buffy, what you said, it…it flies in the face of everything we've ever – every generation has ever done in the fight against evil," Buffy worried that he was going to shoot her down, but instead a smile formed on his face, "I think its bloody brilliant."

"You mean that?" Buffy asked, taking in a deep breath. She had kept Dean and Sam out of this conversation, kept them away knowing that they would say something about the use of magic. She knew how much Dean hated witches and knew that he struggled to be around Willow after she had tried to kill him. She and Willow never blamed him for it, but the last thing he needed right now was to be around the magic talk.

"If you want my opinion."

"I really do."

"Whoa, hey!" Willow cut into the conversation, "Not to poop on the party here, but I'm the guy that's gonna have to pull this thing off."

"It is beaucoup d'mojo." Faith pointed out the obvious, looking at Willow with a nod of the head.

"This goes beyond anything I've ever done," the witch ignored the brunette Slayer, "It's a total loss of control and not in a nice, wholesome, my girlfriend has a pierced tongue kind of way." While Dawn looked at Willow with a confused expression and Giles looked away from the group, Buffy could not help but think that it was a good idea that Dean was not in here for the conversation, she knew he would have made a comment about that.

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't think you could do it." The blonde Slayer thought back to what she needed, pleading with her friend through her eyes.

"I…I'm not sure that I'm stable enough."

"You can do this, Willow," Giles encouraged the red-head, "We'll get the coven on the line and we'll find out how they can help."

"Oh!" Dawn exclaimed as she nodded her head, "Pierced tongue!"

"Dawn needs to do a research thing!" Buffy quickly jumped in panicky, as her 17-year-old sister finally understood what the lesbian witch had been talking about.

"Yes, you do," Giles agreed, "In fact, so do I. I'll go and dig up my sources. Quite literally, actually."

Dawn sighed, but did what she was told and followed Giles out of the room to find the way to do this. At the same time, Anya pulled herself from the bed and looked at her once fiancée.

"Let's go assemble the cannon fodder."

"That's not what we're calling them, sweetie." Xander replied as the two walked out f the room.

"Well, not to their faces," the 1000-year-old ex-demon shook her head, "What? Am I insensitive?"

Now that they were all gone, Buffy glanced at both Faith and Willow, nervous at their joint expressions.

"Are you really sure about this, B?" the rogue Slayer asked, "I mean, this is big stuff."

"I need to do this."

"Buffy, if this is just about Dean…" Willow now started, just to be cut off.

"It's not just about him," Buffy looked at her, "This demon is the cause for the potentials being killed. This demon is recruiting all sorts of other demons to work with her. She needs to be stopped before it's too late. Just, Will, can you do this?"

"I can only try, Buff, but I'm gonna need someone there."

--End of Flashback--

That was what brought all of them here where they were now. The Slayer stood in front of the group and looked around at them all.

"I hate this," she started, the scythe in her hands as she paced in front so she could see all the girls that were now in her living room, "I hate being here. I hate that you have to be here. I hate that there's evil and that I was chose to fight it. I wish, a whole lot of the time, that I hadn't been. I know a lot of you wish I hadn't been either," that comment was aimed at Kennedy, the eldest potential Slayer in the group, who looked away from her. It was definitely true, "But this isn't about wishes. This is about choices. I believe we can beat this evil. Not when it comes, not when its army is ready, now. Tomorrow morning I'm opening the seal. I'm going down into the Hellmouth and I'm finishing this," she sighed as she saw the fear in the eyes of so many of the teenage girls, "Right now you're asking yourself, 'what makes this different? What makes us anything more than a bunch of girls being picked off one by one?' It's true, none of you have the power that Faith and I do. So here's the part where you make a choice…"

--

Sam sat in the Impala, in the passenger seat as Dean drove. They were leaving and Sam could not understand why. He knew why it was, Willow had explained to him what Buffy was asking of her, what the plan was. It was no surprise to Sam that Dean did not like the plan, he wanted as few victims as possible, especially when they were just children, which these girls pretty much were. What Sam did not understand, was, why was Dean walking away from the fight that could save his life?

"Where are we going, Dean?" Sam finally questioned his brother, looking at him. However, Dean did not look at Sam, nor did he show any sign that he was going to answer him, which annoyed Sam more, "For God's sake, Dean," Sam shouted at his brother, "This is Ruby, Buffy is facing her…"

"Well, she's not alone."

"Dean, this demon has the contract to your soul," the younger Winchester sighed, "We could kill her and you'll be free."

"It's not gonna happen." Dean simply said, shaking his head, keeping his eyes on the road. Sam knew that he should stop there and then, but this was something he needed to get his stubborn-assed brother to change his mind for the first time in his life. He had less than ten months less to save his brother.

"Why not, Dean?"

"Because we're not going," Dean shouted, "Because I'm the oldest and I said so."

"Do you want to go to Hell, Dean?"

"How do we know that what Spike said was the truth?" Dean continued, his voice still loud, "How do we know that Ruby really does hold the contract? We could kill her and it wouldn't change anything. We don't know if Ruby is working with this Caleb guy, or whether she will be at the Hellmouth. I can't get my hopes up, ok Sam?" Dean sighed as he calmed down slightly, knowing that he was getting through to his brother, "No, I don't want to go to Hell, but I don't want to go in half-cocked without knowing for sure that that bitch really does hold the contract for my soul."

**So there's the end to another chapter, please please please do review to tell me what you thought of it.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you to the people who reviewed the last chapter of the story and to those who are adding me to their alert lists. I'm glad you seem to be enjoying the story so here is the next chapter for you.**

**Sorry for the little delay in updating the story, I've just been a little busy with life. Anyway, better a little late than never.**

**Enjoy.**

How to Save a Life

Chapter 7: The Final Battle

"So here's the part where you make a choice," Buffy went to as she stood in the living room of her house, in front of the potential Slayers and her friends, "What if you could have that power…now? In every generation, one Slayer is born…because a bunch of men who died thousands of years ago made up that rule. They were powerful men. This woman," Buffy pointed at Willow, who sat nervously on the couch by the window, looking around at all the girls that now had their eyes on her, "Is more powerful than all of them combined," Buffy did not miss the whimper of nervousness from the witch but continued anyway, "So, I say we change that rule. I say my power should be our power. Tomorrow, Willow will use the essence of the scythe to change out destiny," Buffy paused, taking the time to look at all the girls' faces of shock and confusion, obviously wondering whether it could be done and whether they were ready for it, "From now on, every girl in the world who might be a Slayer, will be a Slayer. Every girl who could have the power, will have the power…can stand up, will stand up. Slayers…every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?"

That speech was just a memory now, as the blonde haired Slayer lead the whole group into the high school, where in the basement stood the Hellmouth.

Willow had the scythe in her hand now, and made her way towards the Principal's office, which sat directly above the seal to the mouth of Hell, bringing her potential girlfriend with her.

--Flashback--

Willow sat at her desk, working intently at her laptop and looking through the books that she had out. Kennedy laid out behind her on the bed, playing with her girlfriend's hair, twirling it around her fingers.

"I really wish she hadn't said that about me." The witch sighed as she looked through the books.

"What, the thing Buffy said?" Kennedy questioned, playfully thinking, "I think its true," when she heard Willow squeak with uncertainty, the dark haired potential sat up and turned her girlfriend to face her, "I'll be with you, to keep you grounded."

"Yeah, well you might have to keep me stabbed-ed," Willow sighed, "If I go to the bad place."

"You're saying I might have to kill you?" that was not something that Kennedy wanted to do, if anything, she would do anything to save Willow from the dark side, "Bite me."

"I will. I mean, I do…mean it," Willow paused as she got back on track of where she was, "The darkest place I've ever been, this is what lies beyond that. This is too important for me to…"

"Buffy believes in you." Kennedy sighed, cutting the witch off. She had heard a little about what Willow was like when she took in too much magic and went on a path of vengeance.

"You know, Buffy: Sweet girl, not that bright."

"Hey, I'm the first one to call her out when she's not making sense," Kennedy pointed out to her girlfriend, she believed in Willow so she trusted Buffy in what she had said just earlier, "In fact, I'm a bit of a brat. I've always sort of gotten my ways. So you're gonna make it through this, no matter how dark it gets. Because now…you're my way."

After that, Kennedy laid a kiss on Willow's lips before letting her get back to work. Willow really did need to make sure she understood the spell that she was going to have to use tomorrow.

--End of Flashback--

Willow placed herself on the floor of the Principal's office, with a semi-circle of white candles lit in front of her. Kennedy had come to set all this up for her, while she made sure that Buffy was ready for this and that everyone was in place for the attack. The potentials, the two Slayers and Spike were going to be in the Hellmouth itself while the rest were split into groups around the hallways, ready for if the vampires escaped from the Hellmouth and wanted to get to the sewers.

"They should be in place," Willow looked up at Kennedy, who was watching her on the other side of the candle half-circle. Willow made herself comfortable on the floor, the scythe now placed in front of her, and placed her hands on her knees, "Ok, magic time. You ready to, heh heh, kill me?"

"Starting to be." Kenney nodded her head but it was a complete lie, she was unsure whether she would ever be able to kill her girlfriend, no matter what the situation.

"Good. Fun. Great," Willow nodded nervously, as she prepared herself to say the spell, "Brace yourself."

"Come on, red," Kennedy whispered, encouragingly, "Make it happen."

--

The seal had been opened, everybody who should have been there, were now in the Hellmouth, staring down at the large group of Ubervamps below. They had not seen them yet, luckily, but it would not be long until they did.

"Not to be a buzzkill," Spike started as he made his way down the steps into the mouth of Hell, looking at the amulet that he had around his neck, "But my fabulous accessory isn't exactly tingling with power, love."

--Flashback--

Just after Dean had left, Buffy stayed in the basement, spend a few moments alone so she did not have to see the Winchester leave, nor hear the sound of the Chevy Impala's engine as it pulled away from the curb.

She could not believe he had just done that, he had just walked away from the fight. Did he really not value his life? Did he really want to go to hell? Surely there was a way to save him and keep Sam alive too.

Sighing, she turned around almost bumping into a tall, dark haired man. She stepped away, ready to fight to see that it was someone on their side.

"Angel!" This was the last person she expected to see, she knew he had heard about their fight that they had coming, since Angel had been helping Faith, but she never thought he would come, "What are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you, I'm just shocked. I didn't even hear you come…"

"Vampire movements," the ensouled vampire explained, "Anyway, heard about the big fight, I've faced the demon before, Ruby right?"

"Yeah, at least that's who had Spike," Buffy nodded her head, "She also holds Dean's deal, its getting all complicated and…"

"Dean?" Angel questioned, "You mean that guy that came out of nowhere? The guy that saved Dawn?" when he saw the Slayer nod her head, Angel frowned slightly, "What deal?"

"He's…you know what, never mind," Buffy held up her hands and closed her eyes, she could not think about the blonde haired Winchester right now, "So, you, here, why?"

"I told you, I've faced Ruby before…" when he saw the unsure look from the Slayer, he placed his hand into the pocket of his long black coat and pulled out an amulet from his pocket, while handing her the file that she had neglected to spot in his hands, mind you he had also forgotten about it once he saw the Slayer that he loved.

"Oh," Buffy took the file, looking at it, missing the amulet completely, "I'll have the guys go through that, see if there's anything new. Reliable source?"

"Not remotely," Angel shook his head and now made sure to pass her the amulet, "Also…"

"I can already tell you, I have nothing that goes with that." Buffy shook her head, looking up at her ex-boyfriend like he was stupid.

"It's not for you."

"Splainy?"

Angel tried to explain the best he could about this amulet made for a champion, somebody ensouled, but stronger than human. It was not for him, nor was it for Buffy, he was stuck on who else it could be for, but Buffy had an idea of who it would be for. Taking the amulet, she looked at it, examining it closely.

"I'll be with you in this," Angel now told her, seeing that she was looking at the amulet intently, "Shoulder to shoulder. I'm yours."

"No!" Buffy looked up at Angel, hearing his words.

"No, what?"

"No, you're not gonna be in this fight," Buffy shook her head, she could not have everybody in one place. Now she started to realise that maybe Dean was right in leaving, "I can't risk you. If I lose, if this things gets past Sunnydale, then its days – maybe hours – before the rest of the world goes. I need a second front," or maybe a third, she began to think to herself, "and I need you to run it."

--End of Flashback--

Buffy looked around at the large group of ugly vampires that were down here. She never expected this much.

"I'm not worried," she said, trying to psyche herself up for the fight that was about to happen, "I'm not worried."

"I'm getting zero juice," Spike spoke up again, holding the amulet and looking at it, "And I look like Elizabeth Taylor."

"Cheer up, Liz," Faith smirked at the peroxide blonde vampire, "Willow's big spell doesn't work, it won't matter what you wear."

Spike walked to the edge of the cliff, next to the blonde Slayer and looked over to see thousands upon thousands of the Ubervamps on the floor of the Hellmouth.

"I'm not worried."

All of the vampires were growling, everybody staring at them in shock. They were expecting an army, but not this.

"I'm not worried." Buffy repeated, once again.

"Really?" Amanda, one of the potentials questioned, looking towards the woma, "'Cause I'm flashing back to Xander's whole bathroom speech." Of course, the Xander being Xander, made a joke about the girls going to the bathroom before going to the Hellmouth, since they would need it when they saw what was there.

"Buffy…" A potential Slayer called out.

"I'm not worried," Buffy said once again, "As long as Willow can work her spell before they…" the group of Ubervamps turned their attention to the group of humans that stood on the cliff above them, "…See us."

--

"So, what do we do?" Sam asked, as they sat in a diner in the middle of nowhere, Sam was not even sure where he was, nor if Dean even knew where they were, "Just hope that nothing happens to her?"

"Look, if something does, then that Army is going to escape from the Hellmouth," Dean said, his voice hushed so nobody in the diner could hear them, "That means the whole world is going to be in danger. We can't let it happen."

"But you'll let her die."

"This is her fight."

"What?"

"Look, she told me to go," Dean's anger grew in his voice, as he glared at his baby brother, "She didn't want me there if I couldn't help her. If I wouldn't help her."

"Dean…"

"No, don't Sam, we're not going back," Dean shook his head, "She's fighting this on her own. I'm gonna be here if it all goes wrong. Besides, we have our own demon to kill."

Sam sighed as he looked at Dean. He knew exactly why Dean would not go back to help the Slayer, he did not want to see her get killed, he was too scared that he would lose someone else and Sam understood his fears completely.

--

While Willow sat in the Principal's office, saying her spell, Kennedy sat with her hand on her dagger, ready if she had to do the horrible dead of killing Dark Willow. She watched as her Wicca girlfriend placed her hands on the scythe in the middle of the spell.

Suddenly, a great power overcame her and Willow looked up to the heavens, as she and the scythe began to glow a bright white light.

"Oh…my…Goddess…" Willow spoke, breathlessly as she felt the power in her. All Kennedy could do was close her eyes as she felt all the powers of the Slayer becoming apart of her. She was no longer a Potential, she was a Vampire Slayer.

"Willow?" Kennedy finally spoke as she looked at her girlfriend in amazement. The red-head now had completely white hair, still glowing from the spell. She looked in complete ecstasy, still looking up at the heavens, "You are a Goddess."

Willow came down from the high the spell gave her and looked at Kennedy with a weak smile.

"And you're a Slayer," Willow spoke softly, picking up the scythe and passing it to the brunette, "Get this to Buffy."

The new Slayer picked up the weapon and climbed off the floor, running out of the office and down the school hallways to the basement, where the seal to the Hellmouth was. She realised that the seal was open straight away, so ran into it, she needed to get to Buffy as soon as she could. They would need the weapon to fight off all the vampires.

Once she got there, she realised that Willow had been a little delayed in the spell, by the looks of things, the vampires had attacked before the girls became Slayers, but they all had the power now. Every single potential Slayer now had the power to fight off the Ubervamps that came at them.

"Buffy!" Kennedy shouted over to the blonde 23-year-old Slayer, "Catch!" She threw the pre-Christian weapon through the air, towards Buffy, who caught it with ease and immediately began to kill every single vampire that came at her. She had a chance to look around at all the girls that were battling off each and every vampire a lot easier than they could just a few minutes ago.

Some of the vampires escaped but it did not worry Buffy too much, she knew her gang would help to stop them.

Spike fought off the vampires as much as he could but suddenly stopped when he looked down at the amulet that hung around his neck. However, Buffy had to ignore that fact that he was slowing down in the fight, she needed to stop as many of these vampires as she could, she needed to get to Ruby.

"Buffy!" Spike called out to the original Slayer, "Whatever this thing does I think…" The blonde vampire winced in pain as a burning sensation ran through his whole body.

"Keep the line together!" Buffy shouted out to the girls that were battling the vampires, "Drive them to the edge! We can't let them do…"

All of a sudden she stopped as she felt a blinding pain shoot through her. She looked down at her torso to see a long blade sticking out of it. An ubervamp had stabbed her from behind. All she could do was stumble forward, shocked at the fact a vampire had gotten the better of her, and then she collapsed to the ground, face-first.

"Buffy!" Faith shouted as she noticed that Buffy had fallen to the ground. She ran over to her friends side, who looked up at her, in pain.

"Hold the line." Buffy said weakly, passing the brunette Slayer the scythe and then groaned in pain.

She watched Faith go back to fighting the ubervamps, this time with the weapon, just as a blonde, young looking, female appeared, someone Buffy had never seen before. She knew straight away that this would be Ruby.

"Oh look," the demon smirked, her eyes turning black and then back to normal, making it obvious that she was a demon indeed, "Looks like the little Slayer can't save her boy. I'll be sure to say hi to Dean for you when I collect his soul in ten months time."

--

Meanwhile, somewhere where they did not know where they were, Dean and Sam sat in a motel room, looking at the news on the television. The older Winchester stood up, he was going to go to a bar, he had already decided, however he never got to the door as a wave of dizziness overcame him.

Before he knew it the world was going black and the last thing he heard was his brother calling out to him.

--To Be Continued--

**Well, there's another end to another chapter. I really do hope you're all enjoying the story, please do let me know in a review. They do tell me alot and it doesn't take too long.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys, thank you again to those who reviewed and those you added me to their alerts. I really do appreciate it and its because of that that I'm still going with this story.**

**I hope you enjoy this next chapter, please do give me feedback.**

How to Save a Life

Chapter 8: A Phone Call

Buffy looked around from where she laid on the ground in the mouth of Hell. Faith was now fighting the Ubervamps with the scythe, but a large group of them attacked her at once, overpowering her. The brunette Slayer called out for one of the new Slayers, throwing the scythe at her.

A Japanese girl was grabbed from behind by one of the ugly looking vampires and bitten in the neck, calling out in pain. A stake fell to the ground in Buffy line of sight, followed by one of the girls. The blonde Slayer could make it out to be Amanda, pulled pouring down her face.

She looked up at Ruby, who stood above her with an evil smile. Seeing what was going on, she tried to fight through the pain she was feeling in her stomach, after all she was the Slayer, she was not invincible but she could heal fast.

Ruby held out her hand in front of the Slayer, palm facing Buffy…

--

Dean drove back to Bobby's from the bar that he had been to. He could not have spent a second longer in that house with his brother going on at him about Buffy any longer. It had been a week since they left Sunnydale and they had not heard from her. Sam wanted the older Winchester to call her and find out how it all went down, but it was not something that Dean could not do, he did not want to find out by trying to call her phone that she was dead. If she had not called him yet, it was for a reason.

As he drove back, his phone began to ring. He was sure that it was going to be his brother or maybe Bobby checking up on him, making sure he had not gotten into some fight, so he decided to ignore it. However, the ringing would not stop, obviously it was not his Sammy, Sammy would know to stop ringing.

Sighing, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID. He did not recognised the number so wondered if it was somebody who needed his help, maybe there was a demon that they could kill.

"Hello?" He said into the phone, keeping one hand on the steering wheel as he continued to make his way back to his hunter friend's house.

"Dean?" a male's voice came through from the other end of the phone, a voice that the Winchester did not recognise, just like the number, "Is this Dean Winchester?"

"Who's speaking?" He would always have his guard up, things like that would never change, even if he was going to hell in ten months or so.

"Angel," the voice said, "I'm a friend of Buffy's."

"The vampire with the soul?" Dean questioned, he was lucky in a way that it did turn out to be the Angel that he had heard about, otherwise he would have sounded like a mad man on the phone, talking about vampires.

"That's right," the man answered, "I guess Buffy told you about me."

"Have you heard from Buffy?" Dean jumped straight to the chase, "Is that why you're calling? How did you get this number?"

"I got it from Spike," the vampire answered, "He was here. Dean, there's something you should know. Buffy…she went into the Hellmouth…"

"I know," Dean said into the phone, gripping the steering wheel tighter than he realised, so tight that it was aching his hand now, "Have you heard from her? Did the plan work?"

"There was an explosion," Angel explained, "The whole of Sunnydale was destroyed, I haven't heard from her yet."

"What do you mean, destroyed?"

"It's now just a crater," the voice told him, "It's all over the news."

"And Ruby, did Buffy get Ruby?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know," Angel sighed, "Spike gave me your number, we just thought you should know. He said you were close to Buffy and that you helped her out a few times. I'm really sorry you've had to find out this way."

After that, the call ended. There were so many questions running through the Winchester's mind, but he had nobody to ask. Nobody at all. The vampire had no hung up. It was all over the news though, he said, which meant there would be reports about it on the internet. He could get Sammy to look them up for him. Maybe he could find out more than what this Angel guy knew. Maybe find out what happened to Buffy and the gang.

--

Sam was looking through another book on the Crossroads Demon, he had to find a way to save his brother. Dean had told him that he did not want to go to Hell, so Sam was going to find a way to prevent that.

As he turned the page in the large brown book, the door to the house swung open, hitting the wall behind it, causing a bang to sound throughout the whole house. The brunette Winchester instantly turned to look at the door to see Dean walking through it and straight over to the laptop, turning the power on.

"Dean?" Sam questioned, but either the brother did not hear him or he was ignoring him. Deciding that maybe Dean had heard something from Buffy, he left him to it and informed Bobby to do the same, since Bobby wanted to check what the bang was about and why the front door was left wide open.

That was very unlike Dean to leave a door wide open, causing Sam to look back over at his brother, now worried about him, something was going through the 28-year-old's head.

"Dean?" Sammy tried again, this time walking over to his brother and looking at the computer screen. If he was on one more porn site then Sam was going to kill him, however, instead, he found him on a website for a news channel, "Dean, what are you looking for?"

"I need to find out if something happened," Dean said, looking up at his geeky brother, "I need to find out if something happened to Sunnydale."

"I don't understand, Dean," Sam frowned slightly, keeping his green eyes on his big brother still trying to figure out what was going on, "Can't you call…"

"Sammy, I need to find this out."

Realising that he was not going to listen to reason, Sam turned the laptop so it was facing him completely and typed away at it, entering key words – one key word, Sunnydale – into the search area. Instantly it came up with a match for something that had happened just last week, the day after the Winchesters had left the city. Sam looked at the picture first and was instantly confused, all they were looking at was a crater, a large crater, but there was nothing about Sunnydale there.

"He was right." Dean mumbled.

By now, Bobby had joined the two boys as they looked at the report. The aging hunter read through everything that was written down and realised what had made Dean run in the way he did. Sam now understood too.

The crater was Sunnydale, it was all that was left of the town. The report said that there were no survivors, that everything had been destroyed. Everything. Everyone. Sam definitely understood Dean's change in attitude, the way he ran into the place, he was trying to find out if Buffy was dead, but who had given him the information. Dean mentioned a 'he', who was it?

"Dean…"

"He was right, the whole town," Dean simply said, "She's dead." This was not what he wanted to find out. Sure, he needed to find out, he had to know what had happened to her after the fight, but he did not want to know that there was no chance that they had survived, any of them. After everything they had been through, they were now dead anyway, years before they should have been.

"Dean, I'm sorry," Sam spoke softly, "But how did you find out? Who's he?"

"He?" Dean repeated, looking at his brother now, "He…um…Angel, the vampire with the soul, Buffy's ex-boyfriend," the older Winchester tried to make as much sense as he could, "He called when I was on my way back. Spike survived, he must have done, he gave Angel my number. He hasn't heard from Buffy yet, I don't know about the others."

"I'm sorry, Dean," Sam said, unsure of what else to say. He had been in this situation but he still had no idea what could be said to help him, "If you want to…"

"Want to what?" Dean questioned, jumping up from the computer, "If I want to what exactly?"

"I don't know, Dean," Sam sighed, almost like he had given up for some reason, "Take a break…"

"Take a break?" Dean shouted at Sam, disbelief in his eyes, "You think I want to take a break?" that was not how Dean worked, and surely Sam knew that. He wanted to get revenge, it was obvious that Ruby had caused this explosion somehow, wiped out the whole town to wipe out the Slayer that was trying to kill her. He was going to get his revenge on her. Pulling out the knife that he had stolen from the blonde bitch, he looked straight into Sam's green eyes, "I'm gonna kill that bitch with her own knife. I'm gonna make sure she was sorry to ever come to this world," but he had no idea on how to find Ruby, so looked at Bobby, "Any ideas on how to find her?"

"Not really, but I do have some leads on where your Yellow-Eyed friend could be," Bobby informed the two Winchesters, "Ellen is on her way over with some information from Ash."

"That will do me," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "First this vendetta and then the next. In the order they came."

--

Dean, Sam, Bobby and Ellen were gathered around the table in Bobby's house, a map opened out in front of them of the United States and then a map of the weather patterns. Somehow Ash, Ellen's son and a genius of a man, could track a demon like this. Dean did not understand it at all so often came to Ash for help in this department.

"It's all in California," Ellen showed them and then took away those maps and placed two others. One of a town in California called North Ridge and another one of the weather patterns, "North Ridge to be exact. It's not too far away from L.A, should make it in a couple of days. The demons will be there for a reason."

"Let's go then." Dean said, starting to walk away from the group.

"Dean, we can't just go." Sam sighed, calling his brother back.

"Why not?" Dean questioned with a shrug, turning around to face his brunette brother, "This could be the demon Sam."

"But it might not be," Sam disagreed, "Ash could be wrong."

"When have you ever known Ash to be wrong?" the older Winchester asked, walking towards the door again, "Now I'm going, with or without you Sam. I'm killing these demons, for mom, dad, Jess and Buffy."

Knowing that Dean could not go on his own, Sam sighed and made his way towards the door with his brother, but they were stopped by the other two hunters.

"You're not going alone boys," Ellen shook her head, "We're coming with you. We're gonna help you get your daddy's killer."

**I really do hope that you enjoyed the chapter and can take just two minutes to leave me a review on what you thought.**

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	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you once again to the reviewers and the people who added me to their alert lists. Here's the next chapter for you to enjoy.**

**There's only three chapters left after this, just to let you know.**

How to Save a Life

Chapter 9: The YED

They stood in the cemetery, where the demonic omens seemed to centralise to. The four hunters stood there – two Winchesters and John Winchester's old hunting buddies.

Ellen's son was right, they had tracked down the Yellow-Eyed Demon and now they stood facing the form that he had possessed. Just a simple janitor – that was how he dressed – but Dean could not focus on who the shell was, whether this shell was still alive, had a wife, maybe kids. All Dean could focus on was killing this son-of-a-bitch and then moving onto the next demon, to kill her, get his revenge before he went to Hell.

The janitor looked around at the four hunters, just laughing at them.

"Do you really think you four can get rid of me?" he asked, mainly looking at Dean, but making sure they knew he was talking to all of them, "You haven't managed it before, what makes you think you can do it now?"

Bobby was about to make his move, attack the demon from behind, but the Yellow-Eyed Demon knew it was going to happen and waved his arm. The older hunter was thrown off his feet and into a tombstone, hitting his head on it, knocking him out.

Sam's vision went to where Bobby had fallen, but soon went back to the demon, who was still talking, "I'm stronger than you, all of you."

Dean pulled out the colt from his pocket, he was ready to use it, the last bullet that sat in there, but it was telekinetically pulled out of his hand and into the demon's own hand.

"A boy shouldn't play with Daddy's guns." With the colt in his hand, the demon threw Dean backwards through the air, causing him to hit his head on a tombstone. Sam and Ellen ran at the demon to stop him.

"Dean!"

The Yellow-Eyed Demon made both of them fly backwards, Ellen hit a tombstone near Bobby while Sam hit a tree. While she was close to Bobby, the female hunter made sure that he was still alive.

"I'll get to you two in a minute," the Yellow-Eyed Demon looked at them and then laid his eyes on Sam, "Especailly you, champ. You know, I'm proud of you, when you killed Jake – I never knew you had it in you," turning his attention back to the older Winchester, he held both of them in a telekinetic hold, paralysing them both, "Sit a spell," he smirked back at Sam, making sure he could not be attacked from behind, "So, Dean…I got to thank you," the Yellow-Eyed Demon went on, "You see, demons can't resurrect people unless a deal is made. I know, red tape –it'll make you nuts. But thanks you to, Sammy's back in rotation," the demon mentioned Dean's deal that he made two months ago, obviously he still had a plan to use him, "Now, I wasn't counting on that but I'm glad. I always did like him better than Jake, he was my favourite. Tell me, have you ever heard the expression, 'If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is?'"

"You call that deal good?" Dean questioned the demon, laughing in disbelief.

"Well, it's a better shake than you dad ever got," the demon smirked at the eldest boy of the fallen hunter, "And you never wondered why? I'm surprised at you. I mean…you saw what you brother did to Jake two months ago, right? That was pretty cold, wasn't it?" the demon knelt down in front of the hunter, looking into his green eyes, chuckling, "How certain are you that what you brought back is 100 pure Sam?" the demon laughed at the blonde, "You of all people should know, that what's dead, should _stay_ dead," Dean groaned as he heard the words he had said months ago, when they first came across a crossroads demon, when Dean first found out that his dad had sold his soul for his life, "Anyway," the demon continued with a shrug, "Thanks a bunch. I knew I kept you alive for some reason. Until now, anyway. I couldn't have done it without your pathetic, self-loathing, self-destructive desire to sacrifice yourself for your family."

As the Yellow-Eyed Demon cocked the colt that was in his hand and aimed it at the older Winchester, a figure grabbed the demon from behind and flipped him over their shoulder. Dean could not see who it was, as the figure turned their back away from him, all he could make out that it was female.

The demon and the unknown female battled, until the demon got the upper hand and flicked his wrist, causing her to fly into Sam Winchester, who was now out of the demon's hold.

The demon turned back to face the Winchester, to see him aiming the colt straight at him, now in his own hand.

Without hesitation, Dean pulled the trigger to the colt and let that last bullet fly through the barrel and out of it, straight into the chest of the demon.

The Yellow-Eyed Demon looked down at his chest, where the bullet had hit, in shocked. His hand want to the wound as he looked straight at the blonde haired Winchester before he fell to the ground, dead.

Bobby, with the help of Ellen, made their way over to where the shell of the man the demon possessed laid on the ground. Dean simply stared down at it, as Sam did the same, holding the woman that had come to help.

The Yellow-Eyed Demon was now dead, not sent back to Hell, truly, completely dead. They had done the one thing their father wanted to do for 23 years of his life.

Now Dean turned his attention to the woman that had helped, he wanted to find out who he had to thank for saving his life, but was taken aback when he realised exactly who it was.

All Dean could do was stare in shock at the blonde haired woman that had saved him. He never thought he would see her again. He was so shocked he was tongue-tied and he definitely was not the only one.

"Well, don't I get a 'hello'?" the woman questioned casually, not understanding the shocked expressions, "Or maybe a 'thank you'?"

"You're dead!"

**I'm sure you can guess who I've brought into save the boys. This chapter was pretty much Supernatural's Season 2 Finale, with a few things mixed up for my story's sake.**

**Anyway, please leave me a review and tell me what you thought of it. They are always welcome, good or bad.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys, apologises for the delay, I've had a few technical problems, but now I'm back with a new chapter to my story.**

**Thank you to all those who reviewed and again added me to their alerts, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last.**

How to Save a Life

Chapter 10: The Truth

Sam could just stare at the woman that stood in front of him. Instantly his guards went up wondering if she was possessed by a demon, as Dean had said, she was dead.

Dean watched the woman, watched her moves, looking for any sign that she was possessed, or that she was some sort of hallucination. The latter had to be wrong, since he realised his brother had seen her too. Also, she had fought the demon…

Now he started to wonder if he was dead, himself, had the demon shot him during the fight? Was all this part of his Hell?

"Wait a minute, am I dead?" Dean asked, looking at the woman, looking straight into her soft blue eyes, "Because you're definitely dead."

"What?" The woman questioned, "Dean…"

"He's right, Buffy," Sam nodded his head at the blonde, "We read what happened in Sunnydale, nobody survived."

A look of sadness washed in the Slayer's eyes, emotion, there was no way that she could be a demon.

"I know," she nodded her head, the sadness in her voice, almost breaking, "It was bad, not how we thought it would turn out. But most of us made it out alive."

"But what about the town?" Sam questioned.

"Can I explain it somewhere else?" Buffy questioned, "I don't like the idea of being in a cemetery while it's dark. I can't do with a vampire right now."

--

They stood in the motel room, the two Winchesters and the Summers girl. Bobby and Ellen had decided to give the three some privacy, obviously they needed to go over some things.

Dean stayed as close to the door as he could, he was still not sure what he was looking at. Was it Buffy or was it just Buffy's shell?

Sam seemed to hear what he was thinking, as he picked up a hit-flask of holy water and poured some into a cup, handing it to her.

"Drink this."

"What is it?" Buffy questioned, taking the cup and then looking into it, "Is that holy water? Guys, I'm not…"

"Just drink it, Buffy, please." Dean pleaded with her, with his green eyes. Subconsciously, he held his breath as she drank the holy water that his brother had given her. There was no steam coming from her mouth, no shrieking at the feeling of holy water like it was when demons came in contact with it, she was real.

Letting out his breath, Dean made his way over to her and hugged her tightly.

"Dean…" she tried to get out, although she did return the hug, after all he did think that she was dead, "Dean, can't breathe."

"Sorry," he stepped away from her, looking into her beautiful blue eyes, eyes that he never thought he would see again, "It's just…I…"

"I know," Buffy nodded her head, "I understand."

"So the others," Sam questioned her, sitting on the foot of his bed, while the other two stayed stood, "Who made it?"

"Willow, Xander and Giles," Buffy nodded her head with a sigh, "Faith and most of the potentials. We lost Anya and Spike."

"Spike?" Dean frowned as he questioned her with the vampire's name, "Angel called me, he said Spike gave him my number."

"What?" Buffy looked at the hunter, shock and disbelief in her crystal blue eyes and Dean could have sworn he saw tears in there too, "But that's…that's impossible."

"Buffy," Dean now narrow his eyes and walked towards the Slayer, taking her hand gently, "What actually happened?"

--Flashback--

"You almost had me," Ruby sighed, crouching down at Buffy's level, "What more do you want?"

"I want you…" Buffy started, through gritted teeth as she sat up, glaring at the blonde demon, "To get out of my face."

The Slayer stood up, and looked towards the Slayer with the scythe, who threw it at her.

Ignoring the look of shock in Ruby's eyes, Buffy swung the weapon with a mighty force, knocking three vampires, that were coming at her, of the cliff onto the floor of the Hellmouth at once.

She could see out of the corner of her eye that Faith had found a renewed strength, kicking the group of Ubervamps off of her and taking out a few.

Other of the new Slayers began to find the strength to battle all the vampires that were surrounding them.

While she had chance, the blonde haired Slayer focused on Ruby.

"Now, you're letting Dean out of his deal," she warned her, "Otherwise I'll kill you. I'm sure that will break it."

"You can't kill me if you don't know where I am."

With that, the blonde haired demon escaped – just disappeared – ran away to fight another day, which left Buffy angry. She had come down here to fight against the demon from hell – literally – and to get Dean out of his deal, and now it was not going to happen, she was going to have to find her all over again.

She looked over where Kennedy had managed to disarm one of her opponents and then killed another. An ubervamp was coming after the Slayer though and it was unsure whether she had sensed the presence.

Just in time, Buffy turned to look at the vampire and stabbed it in the chest with the pointed end of the scythe.

Meanwhile, Spike stumbled back from the burning sensation that the amulet was giving him. All of a sudden the burning became worse, causing his to gasp and clutch his chest. As his hand laid on the silver amulet, it burnt.

"Oh, bollocks," Spike groaned, looking down at his hand, to see a burn mark in the shape of the amulet. Before he could do anything else, a bright blue light shot out from the amulet, upwards, knocking a large hole in the ceiling, "Buffy!" The ensouled vampire called out just as the light turned a warm orange colour.

"Spike!" Buffy called out to the man and tried to run to his side, however before she could the amulet refracted the orange light outwards, into the Hellmouth, almost like rays of sunshine. Not only did it look like sunlight, it acted like it too, turning all the vampires there into dust.

The ground around them began to shake and the walls began to crumble.

"Everybody out, now!" Faith shouted to the girls, causing everybody to rush to the stairs and out of the seal. The blonde haired Slayer stayed behind and ran to Spike's side.

"I can feel it, Buffy," Spike spoke to her, breathlessly, painfully. Whatever was coming out of the amulet was effecting him too, but at a slower rate than the other vampires, "My soul. It's really there. Kind of stings."

By now, the whole building was starting to collapse, but Buffy still wanted to stay with the vampire, she had to get him out of there.

"You've done enough, Spike," she told him, "You could still…" More walls crumbled around them.

"Come on, Buffy!" Faith called down to the Slayer from the top of the seal.

"Gotta move, lamb," Spike shook his head at the Slayer, "I think its fair to say school's out for bloody summer."

"Spike!" Buffy called out the vampire's name, worriedly.

"I mean it!" Spike told her, "I gotta do this. Go! I wanna see how it ends."

The Slayer nodded her head and ran past the vampire, up the stairs of the Hellmouth and back into the school basement. She ran up all the stairs she needed to, to get to the hallway that she had just walked down earlier. As she ran down, avoiding the falling debris and the fallen debris on the ground, she found her way was blocked and the only way was up, onto the school roof.

Buffy ran along the roof of the school and jumped across onto the rooftop of another building, she could see a school bus driving down the road next to it and took a wild guess that it was her team – after all it was a Saturday, no other reason for a school bus.

She leapt across to another building and then glanced behind her to see the whole city starting to crumble away, getting closer and closer to her. Carrying on running and jumping, she made it to the street and took one long jump onto the top of the school bus, holding on until they stopped outside of the city. The crumbling would have to stop then, once they were out of shot from the Hellmouth.

Suddenly, she felt the bus coming to a halt, and held on so that she did not fly off. Jumping of the roof, she looked around at what had once been Sunnydale, it was now just one large crater.

Joined by her friends, her sister was the first to great her, with one big, warm hug.

"I don't understand," Giles took off his glasses, wiping them as he looked at what had once been a town full of people, "Who did this?"

"Spike."

The group began to talk about what they would do now, thinking that that was the end of their big fight, however Buffy knew different. She knew the demon they were facing had escaped, but how did she tell them that?

"What are we going to do, Buffy?" Dawn asked her big sister, as the core of the group congregated around the outside of the crater, "You're not the one and only anymore."

"There's still work to do," Buffy sighed, "We didn't get everything." Well, that was how she was going to explain it at the moment.

"What do you mean?" Willow questioned, looking at her blonde haired friend, "I thought that the vampires…"

"Ruby got away," Buffy sighed, "She holds Dean's contract so I need to get her."

"Buffy…" Giles started.

"No, it's ok, this is my fight now," Buffy turned to look at her group, "I'll find Dean and tell him. We'll both get her together."

She turned back to look at where her home once stood. The 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign still stood on the edge of the canyon but teetered slightly before falling backwards into the pit that used to be its city. That was the last sign that told them Sunnydale used to be there.

--End of Flashback--

Dean and Sam looked at Buffy as they heard her story, however she had actually missed out about the fact that Ruby was still alive. She had decided on purpose not to tell them, knowing that she would not get through the story if Dean knew that she was still alive.

"So, Ruby didn't do it?"

"No, Spike did," Buffy shook her head, glancing at Dean, "Which means he can't be alive."

"I'm just telling you what Angel told me." The older Winchester sighed at the Slayer.

"So, that's it," Sam now questioned, "Dean's free?"

Buffy looked between the two boys, seeing the hope in their matching green eyes. She did not want to do this to them, but it had to be done.

"Not quite," she sighed, "There is still a problem."

"What?" Dean questioned, wanting to get straight to this problem.

"Ruby," the blonde woman sighed, "She's still out there, she got away."

"Anything else?" Dean questioned, making sure that he knew all the information before they went into anything. This was not going to be a fight that he wanted to go into half-cocked.

"One thing," Buffy told him, "She definitely holds your contract."

--

**Ok, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave me a review to tell me what you thought, how did you find the way I changed the battle slightly?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys, thank you very much to those who reviewed again and added me to their alert lists.**

**Here's the next to last chapter for you to enjoy.**

How to Save a Life

Chapter 11: A Week Left

"We go in, we hit her hard and we hit her fast." Dean said, looking around at everyone who was in the room with him. That consisted of his brother, the Slayer, Bobby and Ellen.

Buffy stayed stood as she heard the plan that the Winchester had come up with. Her mind had gone away from whether Spike was alive, she decided that maybe it was something else to do with that amulet that Angel had brought from L.A. She could always go and find that out later, right now there was a demon to kill.

"Dean, we can't be certain of where she is," Sam sighed, "It could take us ages to find her."

"Maybe not," Bobby shook his head, causing everybody in the room to look at him, "I may know of a way."

"If not, Willow can do a tracking spell," Buffy offered the four hunters, "She's done it before…"

"Yeah, to kill a human," Dean scoffed, "Has she ever done it to find a demon?"

"She's turned into a really powerful witch, Dean," the blonde woman pointed out to her not-so-sure boyfriend, "She did one major spell to turn all the potentials into the Slayers."

Hearing that, Sam's eyebrows raised, he could not believe the extent and danger Buffy had gone to, so that she could win the battle in the Hellmouth. However, it did not seem to do everything that she wanted to.

"Ok, so we get the tracker spell going," Sam nodded his head and looked at Dean, who had a look of disgust on his face. Why was he still holding this grudge? Willow was blatantly sorry for what she had done while she was under the influence of dark magic, "Dean I know you don't like the idea, but what other choice do we have?"

"Bobby's!" Dean exclaimed.

"Dean, it'll take ages to set up," Bobby sighed as he admitted the truth, "All the stuff is at my house, we're miles away from there."

"I can call Willow to start it now," Buffy shrugged her shoulders, looking straight at Dean, he had to trust her on this one, usually her instincts were good, "We'll find her in no time."

"Fine," Dean sighed with a frown, "Do it. We're getting this bitch."

Now that he knew the blonde haired demon definitely held his contract, he was going to take her down. He was going to be free from Hell and Sammy was still going to be alive. Maybe once this was all over they could celebrate a little, stop the demon hunting for a short while. Dean knew that would not be permanent, he did not know whether he would physically be able to 'play house'.

Months and months passed, however, more exactly almost ten months had passed. It was coming to just a few days, about a week, to Dean's date, the day he would have to go to Hell.

Every tracker spell that Willow had used had failed them. Every time Bobby had used his way of tracker her had failed them. The demon bitch just moved far too much.

Almost on the verge of giving up, Dean sat alone in a motel room in the middle of Texas somewhere. He laid on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, contemplating what was going to come with his life. It was like he had given up on searching for a way out now. Ten months ago, he had been so full of life, so determined to get the demon, but every lead was going to a dead end. It was so frustrating.

They had all their resources looking into where Ruby was, but there was never any luck.

The door opening pulled the Winchester out of his thoughts, as he looked over to see that the Slayer had walked in, with two disposable cups of coffee.

"I thought you might want one."

"Does it have the answer to this?" Dean questioned as he sat up on the bed. Taking one of the cups from the woman, he moved to one side so she could sit next to him. They had not done anything since they had been reunited. Ten months of her staying with them, travelling with them, fighting with them and they had not done anything. They both wanted the demon dead first instead.

She stayed in the same room as them while they travelled, meaning that the two Winchesters took turns in who would sleep on the floor, giving Buffy a bed to herself, unless Ellen travelled with them too, then she shared a room with her. Dean could not share a room with her, in case they were too tempted during the night or something along those lines.

"Willow's trying the tracking spell again," Buffy sighed, they had not given up on the magic, although it was not seeming to work, "She's got a coven in South Carolina working on it too. It's hard though at the moment, with them out searching for all the other Slayers."

There was so much to be done now, since that spell ten months ago, so many Slayers to search for and train. Some of them were harder than others, like one from L.A who had been trapped and held hostage for years on end until she finally became a Slayer and killed her abuser. Angel and Spike had found her, and that was when Buffy found out that Spike's essence had been trapped in the amulet, which had been sent back to Angel. Somehow they had found a way to make him corporeal and he was alive again, not knowing whether Buffy made it out alive or not – his memory was a little hazy.

"I know," Dean sighed, "But I've got less than a week left and I'm starting to think I'm going to Hell."

"You're not," Buffy shook her head, looking into his green eyes that she had fallen in love with, "I won't let it. I'd rather go to Hell."

"You're not doing that for me," Dean shook his head, "I've already had this conversation with Sam. I sold my soul, it's the price I have to pay if we don't find Ruby," even though Buffy did not like the idea, she had to agree with Dean, he would never change his mind, "Just promise me something."

"What's that?"

"If I do die," he started, looking into her eyes, "Promise me you'll still go after the bitch with Sam. Help him kill it and keep an eye on him. I don't know how he'll…"

"I promise," Buffy nodded her head, taking Dean's free hand with hers, "I'll hunt Ruby down and kill her and then I'll keep checking up on Sam."

With their hands touching, the two felt that same spark they always had done between them and felt the passion overcome them. They joined their lips together, battling for dominance, until Buffy won, knocking her coffee on the floor and straddling the Winchester. Dean kept hold of his coffee, but wrapped one arm around the Slayer. He stood up and picked her up with him, so she could wrap her legs around his waist, while he walked over to the table, putting his coffee on the top and then placing Buffy on it, taking over the kisses.

Before they could go any further, the sound of someone clearing their throat by the door could be heard. The two stopped their kisses and looked towards the sound, sheepishly, to find Sam there, looking everywhere but at the two.

"Bobby's tracked her down again, in Salem, Massachusetts ," he explained, "If we set off now, we may be able to get to her before she escapes again."

Like a flash, Dean moved away from the Slayer and started to pack his duffel, closly followed by the other two. They were going to kill this bitch once and for all, however they had an extremely long drive ahead of them to the other end of the country, they had to set off now and stop as little as possible.

* * *

**So, what do you think? Please review to let me know.**

**There is only one chapter left, remember.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey everybody. Here is the last chapter of this story.**

**Thank you to everybody who reviewed the chapters of this story and all those who added me to their alert lists. I'm really glad that you enjoyed it and I hope you like the final chapter.**

**I was asked about a sequel. I'm not too sure about that, since I am going to be extremely busy next year and my ideas for this story stopped here. However, do not rule it out completely. First though, I do need to work on other things first.**

How to Save a Life

Chapter 12: Five Hours To Go

It had taken them four days to make it to Salem, a little longer than they planned, considering that they were now on Dean's last day. He set his alarm on his watch to go off at midnight, to let him know when the Hellhounds were going to be on his tale.

Surprisingly in the last few days, Dean had been hallucinating a lot, everybody's faces were looking strange and almost scary for him. His dreams consisted of being chased by large, ferocious black dogs with sharp, white teeth. He was starting to be able to see the face of a demon, be able to tell one straight away. He would have said the latter was nifty, if it was not for the fact that in five hours he was going to Hell.

The made it to Salam and looked around the town. It was a small village, very different from how he imagined it. He thought it was quite ironic that the demon had come here, the main village of the Witch Trials.

The houses looked new and they were large, wealthy families that lived here. Looking around at the people who were wondering around, Dean was surprised at one thing. They were all demons. Every single person here was a demon. That meant one thing, Ruby was definitely here and was expecting them.

Sighing, the older Winchester realised that they needed a plan and fast. Dean was about to continue driving, find somewhere to hide, so they could plan, until he found Ruby stood in front of the car. Her pose strong, arms folded across her chest. She meant business.

"Well, well, well, you finally found me," she smirked at the three that sat in the Impala, Bobby and Ellen in the car behind, "You know something, I'm going to be nice. I'm going to give you time to plan your little attack on me, since in five hours I get to take your soul downstairs anyway, Dean. I'm going to be in that house, just there," the blonde smirked evilly, as Dean narrowed his eyes at her. She pointed to a white painted house, with a garden around it, "Have fun."

With that, Ruby was gone, leaving Dean to realise that they were in serious trouble.

--

Two hours later and the plan was ready. Bobby and Ellen had gone off earlier, to the main water pump for the whole village, dropping a crucifix into it. Their part of the plan was done for now, all they were waiting for was the sign for the next part.

Dean, Sam and Buffy made their way over to the house that Ruby told them to go to. They knew it was going to be a trap, but there was nothing else they could do. Dean had three hours left to live, walking into a trap was needed to even possibly save his life.

They stepped towards the door but then stopped. The eldest Winchester turned around to see all the 'demon villagers' making their way over to them, almost like they were going to stop them from leaving. They had never seen anything like this.

Suddenly, the demons started to attack, but before the got to the three, the sprinkler system was turned on, blocking their path. Usually water would not bother them, but this water was coming from the main water pump. It was now holy water.

The demons that were in the middle of the water began to burn from it and stepped out, back towards the street. The other demons saw what happened and stayed away from the sprinklers. Ruby was on her own.

Stepping into the house, they almost expected Ruby to be waiting for them, instead they had to walk into the dining room, where the blonde haired demon sat at the table, her arms folded and her brown eyes baring into the hunters and the Slayer.

"Well, it's about time you showed up," she sighed, "How long does it take you to plan something?" nobody said anything to her, just watched her to see what she was going to do, "Hey, can I have my knife back yet?"

Dean smirked as he pulled out the knife that he had stolen months ago, before he even went to help Buffy. It had come in useful while they were tracking down Ruby, he had killed many demons with it. It was just unfortunate that they had not got the colt working again.

"You mean this?" Dean asked, pulling the knife out of his pocket and shaking his head, "I don't think so. This was what I'm going to use to ram into that pretty little neck of yours and kill you."

"How do you know that will free you?"

"I don't," Dean shook his head, "But at least the pain in my ass for the past twelve months would be dead and I wouldn't even have to put up with your yapping in Hell."

Ruby simply chuckled as she looked at the three, now noticing the weapon that Buffy had in her hand. She remembered that weapon, the scythe that only a Slayer could pull out of the stone. She knew that that would come in handy in a big war and wanted it, which brought her onto another little pointer.

"Oh, by the way, I'm not here alone." She explained.

"We saw your demon army outside," Sam sighed and shook his head, "There's no way they're getting in."

"Oh, not them," the demon now laughed, "I want you to meet someone that I've known for a while now."

From the kitchen of the house, a man stepped into view. A man dressed in the clothes of a minister. Now, Dean and Sam did not know who he was, but Buffy definitely knew.

"Caleb." She sneered at the man.

"Nice to know you remember me, girly girl," he smiled, "I see you still have hold of that pretty little weapon there. I heard about that big fight, it didn't go down too well, did it?"

The minister stepped towards Buffy, causing her to back away slightly. Just because she had the weapon in her hand, did not mean she knew she was going to beat the man, he was powerful.

Dean heard the name Caleb and knew who the man was straight away. He was the one that killed Molly and injured Rona. The minister from the vineyard that Dean had tried to convince Buffy not to go to, with every reason. He knew she had unfinished business with this man and needed to finish it off alone.

"Buffy, take him," he ordered, "Me and Sam have this bitch."

Before Buffy could inform the Winchester that she had heard him, the minister hit her, sending her flying through the wall of the house and into the sitting area, while Ruby stood up from the table.

Ruby made her first move on Dean, punching him in the face and then kicking him in the torso, forcing him backwards into a cabinet. She was not going to attack Sam though, instead she just looked him in the eye.

"I could have helped you save your brother, you know," she sighed at the younger Winchester, "You only had to do what I was going to ask of you."

"Yeah? And what was that?"

"Lead the army," she shrugged her shoulders, "Do what you were born to do. Everything Azazel wanted for you."

"He would have never done that," Dean answered for his brother as he pulled himself from the broken cabinet, feeling blood tricking down his arm where he had caught it on some of the glass, "And I wouldn't have let him."

"Dean, Dean, Dean," Ruby repeated his name with a smirk as she turned around to look at him, "You, my dear boy, wouldn't have had a say. It was between me and your brother. Anyway, now the deal's off. You killed Azazel so there is no army anymore."

"Oh well," Dean shrugged his shoulders, still keeping his game face on even though he knew his time was running out, "I'm sorry to hear that. I guess the world will have to be safe for a little while longer."

--

In the other room, Buffy was on the ground, the scythe next to her. As Caleb walked towards her, she kicked up at him, but he was one step ahead of her and grabbed her foot, pushing her backwards on the ground.

As she was getting off the floor, he picked up the scythe, however he was too slow and as he was standing up to his full height, Buffy had gotten up and kicked the scythe up in the air, catching it with two hands, lengthways.

While she jumped up to catch the weapon, she kicked the minister in the abdomen and then kicked him in the knee while he was stumbling, causing him to flip forward and land on the floor on his back.

She was slightly off balance, so once she regained it, she grabbed the scythe with the pointed end facing down and drove it towards Caleb's chest, but he stopped it on the way down, placing both hands on it and using his strength to overpower Buffy's.

He twisted it to one side, slightly, as she tried to force it down and pulled her off balance again. This time, she was forced over Caleb and into a wall, the scythe still in her hands.

--

Dean kicked Ruby backwards, into a cabinet and quickly passed his brother the knife. He had already decided that he was going to beat her down and Sam could kill her. That was the plan from the beginning. Dean knew Sam had more interest in killing her for all the lies that she had told him in the beginning.

He went to punch her again, but the blonde caught his punch and grabbed his arm. She twisted him around and kicked him in the back, forcing him to fall back into the broken cabinet.

Sam was about to go after Ruby, the knife held high in his hand, while his brother pulled himself to his feet, however the demon used her telekinetic ability to force him into a wall, knocking her knife out of his hand.

She then looked at Dean with an evil smile and, once again using her demonic abilities, she made him fly onto the table and then held him there so she could not get up.

Suddenly, Dean heard the alarm on his watch go off. It was midnight. His time was up. He looked at Sam, wide-eyed, who returned the look as they both realised that they were in trouble. Sam could not hear them, but Dean could, the hellhounds were in the distance, on their way here.

Ruby walked over to the sliding doors that lead to another room and opened them, making it easier for her dogs to come and collect the soul they needed.

The older Winchester was terrified as he watched the big black dogs from his nightmares attack him, while he was paralyzed on the dining table.

Sam could just watched from where he was held against the wall. He could not see what was attacking his brother, even though he knew, but he could see the damage that was being done.

Dean cried out in pain as the dogs ravaged at his body, their claws cutting into his chest and pulled him onto the floor. His head went back, all of his blood seemed to be in his ears. He could not hear anything around him, just feel the blinding pain throughout his whole body. Arteries were being cut open, it felt like his organs were being destroyed.

Sam cried out for it to stop, he did not want to see his brother go this way. He had done everything he could to save him, but not it was too late and he was watching as his brother was killed so his soul could be sent to Hell.

Dean turned onto his front, trying to breathe through the pain, hoping that somehow he would survive all this and then in a few days time he could go back to hunting, however he knew that it was impossible. The hellhounds were here to do a job and they would not stop until they were done.

Sam could not watch anymore, he closed his eyes until the screaming end. When he finally opened them, his brother's body laid there, on his back with his arms and legs out, his eyes wide open almost showing the horror that he had been through. He could hear the blonde haired demon laughing. He was out of her telekinetic hold, obviously she thought what Dean was going through would be enough to hold Sam, but she was wrong and he took this moment to pick her knife up and walk towards her.

She was about to use her telekinesis once again, but the brunette Winchester grabbed her arm before she could and then stabbed her in the stomach with her knife.

All she did was look at Sam in shock, he had done it, he had actually killed her, but Sam was not finished there. He turned Ruby around, so her back was to him, his arms around her and then drove the knife into her side over and over again, hoping that somehow he could put the pain that he was feeling and the pain his brother must have felt into her death. It was too late, but at least she was dead.

He let go of her body and watched it fall to the ground, laying next to Dean's, just the shell of the woman she had possessed.

--

Caleb had managed to grabbed hold of the scythe with both hands, while Buffy still held it and picked her up. She called out in pain as he threw her up into the brick ceiling, still holding onto the scythe. He was going to get this out of her hands. He held her up there for a while, as she struggled to get out of her grasp, until he was getting bored and dropped her to the ground. She hit the floor, losing grasp of the scythe, which clattered as it his the wooden floor in front of her.

Luckily the scythe had not fallen too far away from her and she managed to crawl to it, as Caleb grabbed hold of her by the back of her denim jacket, pulling her up enough so he could grabbed her neck.

He held her by her neck with both hands, looking straight into her blue eyes.

"You think you have the power over me?" he questioned her, as he grip became stronger, "You understand nothing."

He was going to watch the life drain from them and he was going to enjoy every second of it, however Buffy had a better idea and used the scythe to knock his arms upwards so he could get out of his grasp and get back to fighting him again.

As he gained his balance back, she spun around in the air, kicking him in the face with both legs simultaneously, causing him to fall to the ground and roll. She waited for him to stand up, ready for him.

"Stupid girl," he shouted, standing up from the floor, "You'll never stop me. You don't have the ba…"

While Caleb got to his feet, Buffy twirled the scythe in her hands and then swung it up between his legs. The minister's eyes grew wide as he felt the pain and realised that she had won.

"Who does nowadays?" Buffy asked with a simply shrug of the shoulders. It was almost like she had done this every day of her life.

Caleb looked at the scythe lodged between his body, incredulously, just as Buffy pushed the scythe up through his body. She just stood there as the two halves of his body fell either side.

"I guess you had to split then." She made a joke, hating the fact that nobody was there to hear it. Dean would have laughed if he was there…Dean!

Buffy ran from the sitting room into the room where she had left Dean and Sam to face Ruby, hopefully she was not too late.

However, straight away she knew she was. Too late to help defeat Ruby and too late to save Dean. Ruby's body laid on the floor, close by to where Sam knelt, cradling his brother's body in his arms. Hoping that maybe he was just injured and Sam was trying to stop the bleeding, Buffy made her way over, but then realised straight away. His green eyes were wide open and lifeless, his chest was not moving at all. He was dead, she had lost him and he was now somewhere in Hell. She had failed him.

--

Dean found himself trapped, suspended over what he could only imagine as a bottomless pit, by metal rods that were pierced through his body. All in different places, sending pain shoot everywhere.

The place was in the middle of a thunderstorm, thunder sounding at every second, lightening hitting the metal rods, sending electricity through his body. He remembered when he had received the electric shock a couple of years ago, that almost killed him, he was glad that that was nothing like this. This was ten times worse.

"Help me!" he called out to the nothingness, "Somebody," part of him hoped that somehow Sam could hear him, or maybe that there really were people down here that did not want to torture him, who could help him, "Please. Help me. Help me! HELP ME!"

--The End--

**Again, thank you to those who reviewed the story and please do take the time to review the final chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, even though yes I did kill Dean off rather than save him.**

**However, like stated above, there is no plan for a sequel right now, but don't rule it out. For now though, this is the end to the story.**


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